Too Close for Comfort
by aflightoffancy
Summary: Alec's acting strange and Max is afraid he's heading down the same road as Ben. MA.
1. Chapter 1

Set vaguely post _Hello, Goodbye,_ with a bit of _Dawg Day Afternoon._ Logan saw Alec leaving Max's place the morning after their talk about Ben. Logan had the confrontation with Max, and she let him think she's together with Alec. Max has helped Alec get out of the murder charge. This is before the Jam Pony hostage thing, or Annie's death, or the tattoos that popped up on Max, or… anything else toward the end of the season. Just not doing it this time.

 _This story happened because I was watching the scene where Logan confronts Max after he saw Alec leaving her place and how chummy they were. I'd forgotten he was drunk and being a real jerk when Max decided to let him think she and Alec were an item._

 _In any case, this story isn't about Logan. It's about Max and Alec, because that's the way we like it! One we go…_

Chapter One

* * *

Something was wrong with Alec.

He'd been coming to work, but he was usually late and a couple of days he hadn't shown up at all. That wasn't a big deal, Max was always doing that sort of thing too after all, but it was happening so often even Normal was starting to get annoyed with his golden boy.

Max didn't think it was Transgenic business either. There hadn't been any trouble lately beyond the usual. She'd asked around and no one else knew what he was up to either. She'd even cornered Sketchy in case he'd dragged him into some scam that had gone sideways.

When Alec did show up for work, he seemed quiet. It wasn't the same quiet like he was after the Berrisford thing either. This was angrier. He didn't hang around and talk to anybody. He didn't joke. He didn't flirt with any of the girls. In short, he wasn't acting like himself.

At the moment, work was over and they'd all headed for Crash. Instead of sharing a table with them, Alec was sitting at the end of the bar. Crash was packed, but it didn't matter. There was an empty seat beside him. If anyone dared to grab the stool next to him, they quickly figured out they'd sat down next to a guy they didn't want to be anywhere near. Max wasn't sure what Alec said to them, or if he said anything at all, but each person who tried, even the busty bombshell who sidled up to him hoping for a good time, quickly backed away and found somewhere else to sit.

Normally, Max wouldn't care that Alec was acting weird, except since she'd told him about Ben, things had been different, better. He didn't know she'd used him to fend Logan off, at least she didn't think so, but then he'd started acting strange.

At first, she'd thought he was just pissed off that she was using him, but he didn't act like he knew about it. It was something else, and he wasn't talking.

And now, ever since that night when he'd been arrested and she'd told him about Ben… The way he was acting was making Max think of a lot of things she never wanted to again. Ben… teeth… a body left in the woods for Manticore to take away.

She didn't think that was it. Yeah, they were all messed up, and he and Ben had the same DNA, but Ben had been messed up by Manticore in a completely different way. It was a big leap to go from Alec's acting weird, to saying he'd gone off the deep end like Ben had.

Max grabbed her drink and headed for the bar. Sketchy was playing pool and O.C. had found a new friend for the evening. There were a few other people Max knew, but they were busy too, so Max didn't have any excuse to avoid the confrontation that had been building for days.

Max sat down beside him and thunked her bottle down in front of her, but Alec didn't bother to turn in her direction.

"Is there some reason you decided to grace me with your presence?" He was twisting his glass, staring at it like it had all the answers. She remembered him acting that way during the Berrisford mess, but she had no clue what this was about.

"You looked like you were having so much fun chasing everybody off, I thought I'd come check it out."

Alec raised his glass and took a healthy sip. "Not tonight, Max. I'm not in the mood for our little game."

"Didn't know we were playing a game."

Alec sniffed. "I say something smartass, you say something sarcastic, on and on until somebody hits somebody else, or one of us leaves. It's a little dance we do and I'm not in the mood, so if you could just cut this short and leave, that'd be great."

"Maybe I wanna know what's going on with you," she said. "Maybe I can help."

Alec rolled his eyes. "Just can't let it go, can you?"

"Not when whatever it is will eventually bite me in the ass." She shrugged. "I'm just trying to fix it before it starts."

He finally turned to look at her, giving her the full weight of his glare. "I am not yours to _fix_ , Max. Manticore tried to fix me over and over, and it still didn't take." By then he was right in her face. Max had to fight the instinctive urge to back up. "Nobody looks after me, but me."

"Fine," she snapped. "Don't come crying to me when you need help."

"On that, at least, we can agree," he said, and turned to face forward again, a clear dismissal.

Max picked up her beer and went to play pool with Sketch. She kept an eye on Alec, but he didn't stay much longer. He finished his drink and pushed his way through the crowd to the door.

* * *

Max walked into Jam Pony and immediately noticed everyone was giving the main counter a wide berth. As soon as O.C. saw her, she motioned for her to hurry over to the lockers. Max walked past the cage and saw Normal sitting on a stool looking forlorn.

"What's up?"

Cindy pursed her lips. "Boss man ain't let out a single _Bip Bip_ since I got here."

Max glanced toward him again. "Why not? Somebody kick his dog or something?"

"Funny you should say that. More like his cat though." She raised an eyebrow. "Your boy called this morning and quit."

" _What_?"

"You heard me."

"But…"

"You and me both know somethin' wrong with him lately." She eyed Max. " _One_ of us better figure out what it is."

Max grimaced. "Does it have to be me?"

"Who else it gonna be? Sketch?" They both looked over where Sketch had managed to get his hoodie caught in his locker when he closed it and was trying to get it free.

"Point taken." Max sighed. "But the problem is he doesn't want help."

"Uh huh," O.C. replied, unimpressed. "Sound a lot like somebody else I know."

"Fine." Max turned around and stomped to the counter. Everyone stopped to listen, probably to see whether Normal would go postal or break down completely.

"Hey, Normal." She waited for him to stop shuffling random papers. "I'm gonna take off."

He didn't bother to look up. "You leave, don't bother coming back. I've got enough of you layabouts who never bother to come in."

It was kind of sad really. He didn't even have the heart to threaten her job properly. It looked like Alec had broken him.

"I'm gonna go check on Alec," she explained. "I think something's up with him and I'm gonna get him back."

That got Normal's attention. He finally looked up at her and a tiny inkling of hope brought some color back to his cheeks. "What's wrong with him?"

"Dunno. But I'm gonna find out." She nodded toward the door. "So… it ok if I go?"

"Fine," he said, his normal grouchy tone reappearing. "But don't think this is a regular thing. I've got my eye on you, Missy Miss." He picked up a package and tossed it to her. "Drop this off on your way."

* * *

Max knocked on Alec's door. She heard some shuffling inside and then the locks being turned. The door opened, and Alec raised his eyebrows when he saw her.

"What's up?"

"Seriously?" she said, pushing her way past him into the apartment. "You quit your job and want to know what's up?"

There were no tell-tale liquor bottles sitting out, no dirty dishes. Everything looked Manticore tidy. Alec, too, looked like his normal put-together self. She didn't know what she'd expected, but she'd figured he'd be wallowing, or… falling apart over something, or… just something.

"Can I help you, Max?" he asked, exasperation showing.

"Why'd you quit?" she demanded.

He cocked his head to one side. "Maybe I'm done wasting my time making twenty-five cent tips when I could be doing something a lot more lucrative."

Max studied him. "Nope. Not buying it."

Alec sighed. He walked to the sofa and sat down in a loose-limbed sprawl. Max sat down as well and leaned back, waiting.

"So talk," she ordered. She'd thought after rescuing him from jail for his twin's murders they were in a better place. After she'd told him about what happened with Ben, things had been… different. But here he was acting all standoffish and closed off again.

He shrugged. "Nothing to say. I'm bored and I'm tired of working for peanuts. I…"

He trailed off and Max narrowed her eyes. "What?"

Alec bit his lower lip, then finally he said, "You ever miss it? Manticore?"

"What?" Max was so surprised she didn't even know what to say.

"Nevermind." Alec huffed and looked away.

"No," she said, a bit too loudly. "You miss Manticore? Are you serious?"

He rolled his eyes. "Not everything… or pretty much everything really. Just… we had a purpose." He sighed. "Just kind of at loose ends, I guess."

 _We never should have left. Everything made sense there._

"You… you feeling ok?" she asked tentatively.

He raised an eyebrow. "Look, delivering packages for Normal isn't exactly using my skills, so I'm looking for something else."

"Like what?" She knew her tone was accusing, but she'd been worried before. Now she was scared.

"Don't worry about me," he said as if he'd heard her thoughts. "I'll figure something out." Alec stood and moved toward the door. "If there's nothing else?"

Max got up and stomped out.

* * *

 _More soon…_


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I'm always happy and amazed to find there are people who still love Max and Alec._

 _Now where were we? Alec's acting angry and weird, quit his Jam Pony job, and mentioned missing the old days. On we go!_

Chapter Two

* * *

Max went back to work the next day. As uneasy as she was, she didn't feel like losing any more money because Alec was off his rocker. She told Normal Alec had to leave town to see a specialist. He'd taken too many hits in the ring and he'd quit because he was too embarrassed to admit it. She could practically see Normal mentally working on a Get Well Soon gift basket for him.

Max had briefly considered hanging around Alec's apartment and following him to see what kind of trouble he got into, but she'd given up on that idea as well. Since he'd been missing so much work lately, she figured he'd been doing whatever he was doing already. Following him wasn't going to change anything. He'd seemed put together and all, and she wasn't his keeper. If he didn't want to work for Jam Pony, that was his business. It wasn't like she'd been pleased when he showed up in the first place. He could go be moody and weird somewhere else.

After work, Max headed for Joshua's. He had to have noticed Alec's behavior as well, and she wanted to make sure he was handling it all right. For some bizarre reason Alec and Joshua had become buddies. Max didn't get it, but then she didn't have to. The two were friends and it would hurt Joshua to have Alec ditch him like he had his other friends.

Maybe, she thought, Joshua might have some ideas. He seemed to understand Alec better than she did in some ways. He'd got how troubled Alec was during the Berrisford mess and how much he was hiding long before Max understood the real extent of it.

Max stashed her bike outside Josh's house and headed inside through the back, making quick work of the locks meant to keep the average losers out. "Hey, Big Fella," she called. "You home?"

Joshua appeared around the corner. "Hey, Little Fella," he said, standing close enough that he blocked her way and Max had to draw up short. "Max visit early." He seemed a bit out of breath and… twitchy.

"Yeah," Max said. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Little Fella have problem?" he asked worriedly.

"Maybe we should sit down?" He was still blocking the way and fidgeting. Joshua was horrible at playing it cool.

"Joshua… painting. Need space," he said, obviously coming up with a terrible excuse. "Muse go away when crowded."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Muse?"

Max had smelled the combination of Alec and blood as soon as she walked through the door. The amazing thing was that these two knew she was a Transgenic and still tried to hide the truth from her.

"I know he's here," she said. Max crossed her arms and Joshua immediately looked contrite. He hated lying to her, and she was going to blame this little episode all on Alec.

"Might as well let her through, Josh," Alec called from the other room. It was almost a growl. It didn't sound like his normal smartass self.

Joshua hung his head and let Max pass. She walked around him into the front living room where Alec was lying on the sofa, bleeding from what looked like a gunshot wound to his leg.

"Got shot, huh?"

"Missed your calling. You should've been a detective."

His breathing was slow, and he was bleeding badly. Joshua had shoved some towels beneath the leg to keep him from ruining the couch, but with the amount of blood, she wouldn't be surprised if he'd nicked an artery.

Max sighed and crossed the room. Joshua must have been keeping pressure on the leg before he'd gone to intercept her, and Alec appeared to be too weak to do it himself.

"What happened?"

"I parked on the sidewalk. The Sector Police are cracking down," he said, a bit breathless. He groaned when she knelt beside him and put some heavy pressure on his leg wound.

Max took a better look at him. He had scratches on his face and hands, and his knuckles were bruised. He'd definitely been in a fight. She wondered if he'd gone back to the ring to make a few bucks. He always liked to go on and on with Normal about the good old days of Monty Cora. That didn't explain the gunshot wound though.

"What happened?" she asked again. "And don't be an ass about it."

Alec shrugged. "Working on something," he said, definitely sticking with vague. "Didn't work out."

"So they shot you?"

Alec glared at her. "Funnily enough, not everybody is as drawn to my charm as you are."

Max pressed more tightly to the bullet wound and Alec yelped.

"Seriously?" he bit out.

Something was still wrong. He was always hiding behind his normal carefree façade, but it was more than that. Something was going on and he didn't want her knowing about it.

"You running scams again?" she asked.

"Something like that." Alec pursed his lips. "I… Look, I…"

He trailed off and Max was sure he'd been about to tell her the truth. Something had stopped him though.

"M'tired," he said. "Just… just lemme rest and the leg'll heal up."

Max rolled her eyes. Whatever was going on, he wasn't going to fess up just yet.

Joshua was standing a few feet away, shifting nervously back and forth. "Alec ok?"

"He will be, Big Fella. You have any first aid stuff?"

"Have a kit," he said. "Not much though."

"That's ok. Gonna need some scissors too. We're gonna have to cut his jeans off." Joshua nodded and hurried away to find his supplies.

"Paid a lot for these jeans," Alec muttered, and Max could tell he was well on his way to unconscious.

"Yeah, well, it's that or manhandle you while we work your jeans off over the bullet wound."

Alec sighed. "Fine. Whatever."

"Seriously, Alec. How did this happen? Maybe I can help," she tried.

"Butt out, Max," he said, warning in his tone. He turned his face slightly away from her, and his voice softened as he added, "Just… trying something new."

"Seems to be working out for you," she replied dryly.

"It's a work in progress."

Joshua returned with the first aid kit and the scissors. Like most of Manticore's children, she'd long since gotten over any shyness. She'd spent a large part of her childhood standing naked with a group of her peers in front of doctors who couldn't care less that they were living, breathing, thinking beings. She hadn't even known to be embarrassed it was such a way of life. Max had learned to be practical then, and she still was. Stripping off a man's pants to patch up a bullet wound was just business as usual.

Max took the scissors from Joshua and quickly cut the leg of Alec's jeans away from ankle to thigh. When he didn't gripe again about his jeans, Max looked up and saw that Alec had passed out, which she supposed was a blessing.

Max peeled back the blood-soaked denim, and got her first good look at the wound. The bullet had cut through the meat of his thigh. She could see an entry and exit, which at least meant she didn't have to go digging around. The amount of blood, though, still had her worried. The bullet had to have hit something important.

Joshua popped open the ancient plastic box that had been around since before the Pulse. There wasn't much more than a few band-aids, some antiseptic, and some gauze. Thankfully, as long as they could keep Alec from bleeding out, his body would repair the rest.

Max grabbed some of the gauze from the kit and mercilessly jammed it into the wounds. Alec didn't manage more than a moan, so Max went about wrapping the leg to keep some good pressure until his body got itself in gear.

"Did he say anything to you, Big Fella?" she asked.

"No." Joshua shook his head, clearly agitated. "Alec came in, said not to call you."

"Do you have any idea what he'd been up to?"

Again Joshua shook his head. "Won't talk. Alec acting strange. Not laughing. Not watching boob tube."

That was news. Alec loved watching TV. She was starting to wonder if this was something from the bad old days that had popped up again, but she just didn't know. Logan hadn't mentioned anything weird going on, but then again, they hadn't exactly been talking since she'd told him she and Alec were an item.

"He hasn't said anything at all?"

"Alec said not to worry. Working on plan. Alec said won't be here as much. Busy for a while."

"No details, though, huh?"

"Alec have secret." Joshua huffed. "Stupid."

"He mention Manticore?"

"Father?"

"Anything. He was talking about missing the old days and using his skills."

"Make no sense." Joshua cocked his head. "Not like him. Alec doesn't care about skills. Likes food, money. Likes to sit and watch boob tube."

"He's kept things from us before, but… yeah. This feels different from the other stuff he was hiding," she replied, turning back to Alec. She looked at the wound again and could tell the bleeding was beginning to slow. She'd need to change the bandages again before too long, but his body was already working on it. It had just needed some assistance to plug the holes.

"Different, how?"

"I… I told you about Ben," she whispered. Joshua remained silent, as always patient and kinder than she deserved. "He was Alec's twin, and he… he went nuts. He was dangerous. But you know all that." She hadn't told him everything, just enough to let him know why Alec had needed a place to hide from the cops until they could figure it out, but she guessed Alec would have filled in the rest of the details. "Ben missed Manticore. He said everything made sense there and he wanted to go back. Now Alec's acting all angry and weird and talking about missing Manticore…"

"Alec not like Ben," Joshua said.

Max certainly hoped so.

* * *

Max sat in the kitchen with Joshua. Once they were sure the bleeding had stopped, he'd made macaroni and demanded that she come and eat. Alec had still looked pale, but he'd been resting so she'd finally agreed.

Joshua smacked his lips, clearly enjoying his food, while Max munched quietly, all the while listening for any movement in the front room. She heard the occasional breathing change or shift in his sleep, but he was still down for the count. She wouldn't put it past Alec to bolt as soon as he woke up. She'd considered tying him up to keep him from going anywhere, but had decided against it. He was hurt and she'd be able to catch him if he tried it.

"What are we gonna do, Big Fella?"

"Don't know," he said glumly, and Max was sorry for ruining his mac and cheese buzz. "Alec have to figure out for himself."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," she said. "If something's really wrong, I don't know what he could do. You didn't see him with Berrisford. He was going to let that guy shoot him, Joshua."

Joshua growled low in his throat. "Joshua talk to him. Joshua get truth."

"I don't know, Big Fella. Every time I try, he just blows me off." She pointed toward the living room. "Something's up, and he's already managed to get himself shot. What if he's trying to get himself killed or… or who knows?"

"Alec confused."

Max sighed. "Yeah."

"Father… Manticore… all of us messed up."

"Yeah, we are, but it's gonna get him dead. I just… I don't want him to hurt anyone else either."

"Alec not like that." He shrugged. "Not kill Joshua when Alec had bomb in his head."

Max frowned. She didn't like to think how close Alec had come to hurting one of her friends. Still, he'd chosen not to kill Joshua, and he'd proven himself over and over since. Yeah, she'd accused him of being capable of murdering Ben's victims before she knew what was what, but she'd been blindsided when the cops told Alec's "lawyer" about the charges. Given time to think, she knew Alec wasn't like that. At least, she thought so. This whole thing had her questioning what she thought she knew.

Max heard some shuffling in the living room. Joshua cocked his head and she knew he'd heard it too. "Should we take him some?" she asked. "He's an idiot, but he'll need food."

"Mac and cheese make everyone feel better."

Max smiled and picked up her plate. Joshua followed her, grabbing the pot with the rest of the macaroni for good measure.

They needn't have bothered. Alec was gone.

Max crossed her arms in annoyance. "I knew I should have tied him up."

* * *

 _More soon… Some actual answers tomorrow, maybe… (feel free to insert an evil laugh here)_


	3. Chapter 3

_Allrighty… Let's see if we can't get into a little more trouble today…_

Chapter Three

* * *

"Sketchy found him," she heard one of the other Jam Pony employees whisper. She didn't know his name, but that wasn't unusual. In a place like Jam Pony, Normal was always hiring and firing people. The guy was tall, dark, and decent enough looking, but he thought he was Don Juan, so Max had been ignoring his existence. At the moment, he was talking to a couple of other riders who were hanging on his every word.

"Found who?" she asked.

The guy turned to her and his smile turned sleazy in an instant. "Hey, Max." He tucked his thumbs into his belt and rocked forward. "Your boy Alec quits and you come straight to me. It was bound to happen." He grinned again and Max realized that although he was reasonably handsome, his teeth were rotten. This one had a definite drug problem. He wouldn't last long.

The guy brushed a lock of her hair back over her shoulder and Max reacted. She grabbed his wrist and turned the guy, twisting his arm up behind his back until she was within a breath of breaking it. The riders he'd been talking to suddenly decided to make themselves scarce.

"You don't get to talk about Alec, and you don't get to touch me," she said sweetly. "Got it?"

"I got it. I got it!" he yelled. "Let me go!"

Max shoved him away and the guy bolted for the door. She wouldn't be sad if he never came back to work.

She looked around and saw Sketch sitting on a bench near the lockers. He was pale as a ghost and looked completely freaked. O.C. was sitting beside him and had an arm around his shoulders. She looked almost… maternal, which was just weird. O.C. was a no nonsense kind of person and had very little patience for anyone acting like an idiot. So whatever had happened, even O.C. deemed it enough out of the norm for Sketch to earn a little comfort.

Max walked up and the other riders who'd been standing around scattered in different directions. She didn't know what their deal was. It wasn't like she'd actually broken the guy's arm. She'd just… bent it a little. And he'd deserved it.

Cindy at least looked momentarily amused. "Making friends like always, Boo?"

"You know it. Hey, Sketch," she tried, when he didn't even seem to realize she was there.

Sketchy looked up at her and blinked owlishly. "Oh. Hey, Max."

"You ok? Something happen?"

"Yeah, I uh…"

He stopped and O.C. rubbed his back with her hand. "Go on and tell her, Suga'."

"Yeah, ok." He cleared his throat. "I was making a delivery in the business district. One of those big fancy high-rises, you know?" He was looking at her, but not really seeing her. Sketchy was admittedly pretty easy to spook, but this was more than his usual. "I figured I drop off the package and get a nice fat tip for my trouble. The secretary pointed at the office and I walk in and the dude looks weird, kinda propped up at his desk."

"Yeah? So?"

"The dude was dead, Max!"

"You found a body?" Max asked in surprise.

"Yeah." He shook his head. "I totally freaked out. I musta yelled because everybody came runnin' and then the cops showed up."

"Some fool stabbed him and cut his fingers off," O.C. added, and Sketchy shuddered at the memory.

Max grimaced. "Well, that's disgusting."

"Sketch says he overheard one o' the cops say it's the third one."

Max looked at her sharply. There was something else in her voice. Max didn't understand, but something had O.C. rattled. Yeah, it was creepy and sick, but their world was ugly at the best of times. Sometimes it was downright nasty, like dead guys with no fingers.

"Alec told me not to worry about it," Sketch said. "He said he'd take me out for a drink to let off some steam."

"You saw Alec?"

O.C. was still looking at Max to gauge her reaction, and now Max understood why she was rattled. Alec had been in the same building as the dead guy.

"What was Alec doing there?" Max asked. She tried for casual, but Cindy gave her a sharp look to say she'd failed. It didn't matter. Sketchy was too caught up in his own story to notice.

"He had a job interview." He shrugged. "He was mad, too. Said it didn't go so good and he was headed out."

"Ya don't say." O.C. pursed her lips in disapproval.

"You know where he went?" Max asked.

Sketch finally focused on her. "I don't know, Max," he said, raising his voice. "I was kinda focused on the dead dude and the knife stickin' out of his eye."

"Ok, ok," she said. "Sorry." And she did feel kind of bad. Sketchy was an idiot, but he was a sweet one most of the time. "Cops say anything else?"

"Just that it was freaking them out too. Guy's a ghost, man. Got past security, and everybody in the office. Nobody saw anything. I mean, I mighta walked right past the dude!"

Once again, O.C. looked at her, decidedly uncomfortable. Max shifted on her feet, just as uneasy, afraid Sketch hadn't just walked past the killer. He'd walked out with him, and promised to get a drink later.

It didn't feel right, though, so Max tried to think it through logically. Alec had been acting strange. He'd been angry and standoffish. He'd quit his job for no good reason and then brushed her off. He'd mentioned missing Manticore and using his skills and now there were three deaths caused by a "ghost."

"This is so not good."

"Tell me about it!" Sketch said. "One of the creepiest things I've ever seen. I mean they stabbed him in the eye! And the fingers! Who does that?"

"All right enough mollycoddling," Normal shouted above the din of voices. "Nothing new about a dead man. Bip bip. Packages still need to get to the living."

He started tossing packages and everyone grumbled, but accepted their next runs and left. Normal walked out from behind his desk. He tossed several packages to her and O.C. before stopping in front of Sketch.

"Go home, but I'll expect you here tomorrow," he said in a Normal sort of show of pity. "Bright and early."

Sketch nodded, still a bit dazed. He stood and headed for the door. Max followed. She'd make sure he got home before she made a few stops of her own.

* * *

Max slammed the door to Logan's apartment behind her. "I need you to track down Alec."

Logan looked up from his computer. "And hello to you, too, Max."

"Sorry." She walked within a few feet of him where he was sitting at the desk working on something. "Hi."

"Hi."

"I need you to track down Alec."

He raised an eyebrow. "I gathered as much. Any particular reason?"

"He quit work. He hasn't been home and now I can't find him." She'd made a few stops at his apartment to ask for answers, but had no luck. She'd checked with Sketch, and Alec had been a no-show for their drink to unwind. A few inquiries about the murders like the body Sketch had found had gotten her exactly nowhere, so Max was out of ideas. "I think…" She hesitated to say it given Logan's feelings about Alec. "He might have done something… bad."

"Bad?" There was something odd in his voice, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"There's a… uh… dead guy… or two."

Logan shook his head in disbelief. "You think he's been killing people?"

"No!" she said a bit too loudly. "Maybe. I don't know." She shrugged. "It doesn't feel right, but _something's_ going on."

He frowned. "He is a trained assassin, an experienced one. Is it so hard to believe he would do…. whatever this is?"

She didn't think he would. He'd been appalled when she pretended to be his lawyer and accused him of killing Ben's victims. He'd been so off lately, though, and niggling doubts were burrowing into her thoughts.

"Can you just look into it? I can't even find him to ask."

"Of course."

"Thanks."

"Max, I…" He shook his head.

"What?"

"I just… don't understand how you can be with someone you think could still be capable of murder."

Max's heart skipped a beat. In all of her worries, she'd forgotten about that bit for a minute. She was supposed to be _with_ Alec.

"Logan, I was trained the same as he was," she said carefully. "And I don't think… I… Look, we've both got serious issues. Something's wrong and I just… I need to find him."

Logan raised his hands. "Ok. I'll look into it."

Max could see he was hurting, that she was pouring salt in an open wound. He would do what she asked, but coming to him about this was cruel and she knew it.

"Thanks," she said weakly and let herself out.

* * *

It had been days, and Logan hadn't turned up anything, or at least she assumed so since she hadn't received a page or call.

She'd put out her own feelers, but hadn't found anything either. One of the Jam Pony riders, however, had mentioned seeing him going into a bar in Sector Six. It might not do any good, but it was all she had.

Max had just dropped off a package and decided to take a short detour to check out the bar. Alec probably wouldn't be there, but the bartender might have heard something.

Max stopped outside the bar to get a feel for the place. The Blue Birch was definitely a different place from Crash. It looked to be an old school type pub that had seen better days, probably already a neighborhood fixture long before the Pulse turned everything to crap.

The people coming and going seemed to be a more middle aged crowd, where Crash's patrons definitely skewed younger. Deciding she'd dawdled long enough, Max walked up to the door and went in.

She waited the fraction of a second it took her eyes to adjust to the dim interior and then scanned the room. As she'd suspected, the inside was cramped and dark, but surprisingly clean and well kept. Gleaming, lighted shelves of liquor bottles and the dark wood bar were to one side, while booths lined the wall opposite with a few tables in between. It was mid afternoon and there were only a few people. A couple was occupying a booth, sitting way too close to each other. Two men were sitting at the bar several stools apart, and there was another man at the table farthest from the door.

To her surprise, Alec stood behind the bar, pouring a drink and walking it to the guy at the stool closest to him. The guy handed over a couple of bucks and Alec deftly took the money and deposited it in the till.

Max walked up to the bar and slid onto the stool at the end, well away from the two men. She didn't want them to overhear, or worse to think she'd sat close to them because she was interested. She knew Alec had to have seen her walk in, but he had yet to acknowledge her. For some reason, he was acting like he had no idea who she was.

Once Max was settled, Alec finally headed over. "What can I get you?" he asked, his face professional and impassive, just a barkeep and a customer.

"Beer," she said. "Whatever you got on tap." He nodded and poured her beer on automatic, sliding it in front of her.

"You want to run a tab?" he asked.

"Sure."

Alec just nodded and wandered back down to the other end of the bar. Max sat and nursed her beer for several minutes while she studied the bar, its occupants, and especially Alec. He wasn't paying her any mind, as if she were just another stranger who'd stopped in for a drink. If she didn't know him, she'd have thought he was an average bartender, going through his run of the mill day. Max did know him, though. He was tense, on guard, watching not her, but everyone and everything else. It made her twitchy. She didn't know if this was part of what was wrong with him, and he was being paranoid, or if there really was something going on.

"Hey," she waved to get his attention, "can I get another beer?"

"Coming up."

The door opened behind her and a guy walked in. He was middle-aged, with a bit of a beer gut, wearing khaki pants and a light jacket. He could've used a haircut, but other than that he looked normal. The guy walked behind her and headed for the back. Alec gave him a onceover, then went back to pouring her beer.

Alec set it in front of her and in one smooth movement leapt over the bar and swept the guy's feet out from under him. He landed with a heavy thud. Alec flipped back the man's jacket, pulled the gun he had been hiding there, and cracked him across the face, pistol-whipping him into unconsciousness.

Max jumped off her stool and grabbed Alec's arm before he could bring the weapon down again. "What are you doing, A-"

Alec grabbed the front of her shirt and jerked her down so they were face to face. "Max, do _not_ blow my cover," he hissed only loud enough for her to hear. Alec roughly shoved her away and she was so shocked she stumbled back and fell on her butt.

"Stay out of this, lady," he ordered more loudly. "It's got nothing to do with you."

The man who'd been sitting at the back stood up and walked toward the ruckus. He moved at a leisurely pace. He was middle aged, maybe a little older, medium height with dark blond hair in a precise wave, wearing black slacks, and a dress shirt with a gray pullover. He looked very proper, kind of… preppie, if that was even still a thing since the Pulse. The closer he got, however, the picture changed. He radiated a quiet sort of power. He was a dangerous man and Max could see it in his eyes. This was a man who knew about violence. Max had seen enough people like that to spot it when she saw it.

"I thought you had this taken care of, Alec," he said, definite censure in his tone.

"Sorry, Boss," Alec answered. "I didn't know about this one. Just looked like a normal guy when he walked in."

The boss man looked up at Max and the other patrons who were ranged around the room, nervously eyeing the door. He smiled, and it made Max's skin crawl. "We're going to close early, everyone. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience. We'll be open tomorrow as usual."

Max looked at Alec and he narrowed his eyes, once again ordering her to stay out of whatever job he was working. He'd said he wanted to use his skills. She was just afraid he'd decided to go back to working for the bad guys. Manticore wasn't around, so he'd hired on with a different set of sociopaths?

This was all _wrong_. She'd thought Alec had moved beyond this sort of thing. She'd been counting on it. She'd been counting on him. For a moment, she was stunned by the realization that she was _hurt_.

Alec stood up and began ushering the patrons out of the bar. The couple and the two men left quickly, wanting nothing to do with whatever was going on. Max backed toward the door more slowly, hoping against hope that Alec would give her some sign, some nod or wink, _something_ , to tell her not to worry.

Alec locked the door behind her. Max watched through the window as he grabbed the unconscious man by the collar and began dragging him toward the back of the bar. She wondered if this one would get to keep his fingers.

* * *

 _More soon…_


	4. Chapter 4

_Sorry guys, this one was supposed to be longer, but I couldn't get it all fixed up in time, so it'll have to be just this section. Work… blech._

Chapter Four

* * *

Alec's motorcycle was parked in the alley behind the bar, so Max settled into the shadows nearby to wait. The normal stench of an alley was almost enough to drive her away, but she stuck it out. If Alec really was working for these people, and they were about to kill the guy who'd come into the bar, then Max was going to have to intervene.

Alec had said he was on a job. She had to hope, to _trust_ , as hard as that was to say, that there was more going on than she knew, despite the horrible feeling that was like a lead weight on her chest.

After several minutes a cargo van pulled up and backed into the alley near the bar's rear exit. Alec appeared with the would-be gunman slung over his shoulder in a fireman carry. A man got out of the driver's seat and walked to the rear to open the cargo doors. The man was short, with close-cropped hair, and fairly nondescript features, wearing a blue workman's coverall. Alec's boss came out of the bar and watched as Alec chucked his burden into the back of the van. The guy was still alive and looked to be intact as far as Max could tell and she felt the weight on her chest lessen just a bit.

The driver slammed the door closed and turned, giving Max a better look at him. He was like Alec's new boss. Max could see the dangerous lack of emotion in his eyes and it sent a chill down her spine.

"Thank you for coming so quickly," the boss said.

The driver shrugged. "I'll add it to the bill."

"You want me to go along to tote this guy?" Alec offered.

The driver just stared at him as if he were a bug that had suddenly learned to talk. It was a predatory sort of look, like he might want to pin that bug to a board as part of his collection. "I've got it," was all he said.

The boss held up a hand to keep him from leaving. "Do you have a moment? I need to talk to you about our little project. I'm not pleased with the lack of progress."

"Of course."

Both men shot a quick look at Alec and then came to a mutual decision. "Alec, watch the van. We'll be back in a minute."

"Yes, sir," Alec answered and placed himself in front of the van doors, although he didn't look happy at being left out of their little meeting.

The two men went back inside the bar and closed the door behind them.

"You can come out now, Max. I know you're there."

Max frowned, annoyed at herself for getting caught, but she stood up and walked out of the shadows.

"Just couldn't stay away, could you?"

"I figure you been getting in my business this long," she shot back, "I should return the favor."

"What are you still doing here?" he demanded. "I told you to leave."

Max chose to ignore that question, just like she'd ignored the order to go. "You working for criminals now?"

Alec rolled his eyes, and threw up his hands. "I warned Logan this wasn't going to work. I knew you'd butt in sooner or later and mess it up."

"What?"

"Look, we don't have long, so listen up. It's taken me weeks to set this up, Max. I had to get away from Jam Pony and make it look real, then I had work my way here, so do not screw this up. I don't even want to tell you what I had to do to get in Anderson's good graces."

He rubbed his knuckles absentmindedly and Max knew he wasn't talking about a pre-employment questionnaire. Working for men like this also made more sense of the bullet wound.

"Logan knows about this?"

"He's the one who asked me to do it. He's been trying to take down Anderson's organization, then something came up that made it critical, but he needed inside information. I don't have time to tell you everything and I don't even know if Logan will, but go talk to him. Anderson can't see you here again." Max was so stunned by the barrage of information she didn't know where to start. Alec put his hands on her shoulders and shook her. "Are you listening to me, Max? Anderson _cannot_ see you here again."

"You're… you're not…"

"A moody jerk who's gone off the deep end and dumped all his friends? Not so much…"

The relief that washed over Max was almost overwhelming and she felt light-headed.

He wasn't Ben. Alec wasn't going crazy like Ben. He was on a job. It was okay.

Before she could think better of it, she'd thrown her arms around him. Alec staggered back under the unexpected hug attack, but finally put his arms around her, patting her back awkwardly.

Max pulled away, took one look at him, reared back and punched him. Once again, Alec staggered back and thumped into the van.

Alec shook himself, then straightened, rubbing his jaw. "Thanks, Max. I love it when you're a reasonable person. Now can you go before you screw this whole thing up?"

Even as he said it, the bar door opened. Max blurred back out of sight just in time.

The driver stepped out into the alley and looked around as if he'd caught a hint of movement, but seemed to set it aside. "Boss says you can come along," the driver offered. "Keep your mouth shut or I'll shut it for you. Understand?"

Alec just nodded. The man headed for the driver's seat and Alec for the passenger. He took one second though to turn around and glare, warning her not to follow and foul his game.

Max sighed and decided she would play along. For the time being.

Besides, she needed to have a nice long chat with someone else.

* * *

 _More soon… And I have a feeling Max is going to have a few choice words for Logan._


	5. Chapter 5

_So Alec says he's on a job… let's see if Logan will give us some answers._

Chapter Five

* * *

Max walked into Logan's apartment and slammed the door behind her. She'd been angry before, but on the way over, she'd gone from angry to ballistic. Apart from the normal, excruciating time required to get anywhere in post-Pulse Seattle, she'd been held up at one of the security checkpoints for over two hours. Some idiot had decided to take a shot at one of the Sector Cops and everyone had been rounded up until they figured out who it was. Max hadn't had any way to get out of it without showing off in front of a lot of hover drones and giving the cops an eyeful. That had given her lots and lots of extra time to think about how much she wanted to yell at Alec and Logan. Since she couldn't get at Alec right now, Logan was number one on her hit list.

Max stalked into the next room where Logan was sitting at his computer. She stopped several feet away and crossed her arms. "Talk fast."

Logan sat back in his chair. He looked surprised, then embarrassed and guilty, and finally just a little bit annoyed. "Hello, Max."

"You want to explain to me why you sent Alec undercover on a dangerous op without telling anyone? Not to mention, when I come to you for help because I think Alec's going nuts, you tell me you'll look into it instead of telling me the truth."

"Max, I-"

"Because I've been worried to death. I've been trailing him. I could have gotten him _killed_ by messing up the op. He could have _died_ and I wouldn't have known why. I thought someone I care about was losing it, and you didn't say a word."

"You mean someone you love," he said with a hint of defiance. He cocked his head to the side, daring her to… she didn't know what. Deny it? Own it? Max remembered what Logan had been like the night after he'd seen Alec coming out of her apartment. He'd been drunk and petty, but he'd been hurting, and she'd understood it then, but this was too much. He hadn't outright lied to her by saying he'd look into it, but his omission was infuriating.

"Are you serious?" she demanded, her tone low and dangerous. "I just talked to Alec. I nearly blew the op because I didn't know what was going on. I know all about working undercover. I could have helped his story instead of hurting it. Alec said he told you it was useless to leave me out, but you said no." She narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, more at eye level. "Were you that desperate to try to drive a wedge between us?"

Not that there was anything to drive a wedge between, but Logan didn't know that.

"Because I've been terrified that Alec was going crazy like Ben. They're twins and I was scared it was genetic and I was going to have to make the same choices."

"Choices?" Logan frowned in confusion.

"I had to kill him!" she shouted. "My own brother! I loved him and I had to kill him!" The truth just spilled out of her. Only Alec had been able to understand what she'd done, and Logan had put that in jeopardy. She knew Logan wouldn't be able to accept it, but she was so angry she could barely see straight. "You made me think it was happening all over again!"

"You killed him?" Logan asked, appalled. "But you said…"

"He was hurt. Manticore was on top of us and he couldn't run. They'd have taken him apart piece by piece to see where they went wrong. He asked me to end it and I did, while he was still going on and on about his delusions. I let him talk, and then I broke his neck." She glared at Logan, fury mixed with sorry making her voice break. "I had to leave him there because I had no other choice!"

It took a few seconds to sink in, but Logan's expression gradually changed. She was expecting anger and horror, maybe disgust, but suddenly his shoulders sagged, and all she could see in his eyes was something like understanding, maybe even sympathy. Maybe she'd been wrong to think he wouldn't get it. He rubbed his hand over his mouth in frustration. He was hurting and it was for her.

"I'm so sorry," he said softly, guilt and remorse plain to see.

Max brushed angry tears away. "So am I. But none of that really matters. I'll rip Alec a new one, too, when I can actually talk to him, but right now I just need to know what's going on. Leaving me in the dark is not an option."

"Ok," he nodded, "ok. I… I was thinking…" Finally, he sighed. "I wanted you to tell me it wasn't real. Once I thought about it, I knew you were lying about the two of you and it was a ruse to keep us apart. When Alec started acting strange, I thought you would come clean."

"There's nothing to come clean about," she said. She was not going to waffle. She couldn't do this anymore. This whole situation just proved that she and Logan were a mess. She _had_ to move on for her own sanity. She and Logan were done. "And true or not, how did that make it ok to keep something like this from me?"

"If it had been real between the two of you, Alec wouldn't have kept quiet," he said, with a little more heat.

"You were counting on an emotionally stunted ex-assassin to make good relationship choices?" she snarled. That was true for her as much as Alec. She was the one lying to Logan to keep him away.

"I-"

They both turned when an alarm sounded from Logan's computer. Logan lurched toward the screen to look.

"What is it?" Max demanded.

"It's Alec's panic button."

Max's fingers clenched into fists. "He's in trouble?"

Logan didn't say anything. He just started typing and looking at his screen intently, but Max refused to be ignored. She walked around the desk and looked at the screen herself. She was too close to him, but at the moment she didn't care.

"Does it give information, or just a location?" she asked.

"Location."

"Where is he?"

"Give me a second," Logan said under his breath. "I'm trying to triangulate."

"Give me an estimate!" she snapped. "I'll start that direction and you can give me specifics when you have them."

"Somewhere in Sector Seven," he said, and Max bolted out the door.

She never should have let Alec leave with the guy in the truck. She should have followed him. She'd known the guy was bad news and she'd left Alec alone anyway.

It didn't matter. He was in trouble and she'd let it happen. The last thing he remembered about her might be that she'd punched him. He might be dying. He might already be dead. All because Logan and Alec were both too messed up to tell her what was happening, and she'd been too angry to think straight.

Max ran to her Ninja and raced for Sector Seven.

* * *

 _More soon…_


	6. Chapter 6

_Max may be ticked at him, but our boy's in trouble. To the rescue!_

Chapter Six

* * *

Max clutched the pay phone more tightly. "What do you mean you still can't get a location?" She'd been riding around aimlessly in Sector Seven for what felt like forever just hoping she might see the van, or catch a glimpse of anything even remotely off that might lead her to Alec.

"I mean there's nothing I can do," Logan answered. "The signal died. Either he shut it off, or they found the emergency transponder and broke it. Alec's cell phone is off, too. I can't ping it."

"Now what?"

Logan cleared his throat in discomfort. "I'm monitoring their phones, drone footage, and security cameras, although there aren't many in that area. Something will show up. The guy Alec was in the van with, Sheffield, was arrested. Alec sent me a message to call in an anonymous tip to keep the guy in the back from being killed."

"You're just now mentioning this?" She wished she could reach through the phone and strangle him.

"That was hours ago, Max, before you even got to my apartment. Sheffield was arrested, but there was nothing about Alec. I figured he talked his way out of it. I don't know what happened after that."

"You're sure he wasn't arrested?"

"There's nothing in the system. Whatever happened, the police don't have him."

"So you just want to wait?"

"I'll find something, Max. It's only a matter of time."

"Well, I'm not waiting." She was so angry she wanted to tear something apart with her bare hands. "Where is the boss guy from the bar? The one giving the orders."

"Max, I don't think-"

"Where is he?" Max snapped. "He _will_ tell me where Alec is."

"Max you can't talk to Anderson. It isn't safe," he said, anxiety making his voice rise. "Look, we don't know what happened yet. We've been working on this operation a long time. Don't give them information they don't already have. It could make it worse for Alec."

Max had to bite her tongue to keep from snapping at him. She, of all people, knew what she was doing. "I'll know what to do once I get the lay of the land." But she had her priorities. Alec first. Bad guys second.

Images of Ben, injured, Manticore closing in… It all flashed in front of her eyes. This wasn't the same, and Alec wasn't Ben, but she couldn't do this. She'd lost too many people. Alec was sane and Alec could fight, but she needed him back. She needed him safe so she could yell at him herself for hiding this little operation from her.

"Tell me where he is."

Logan sighed heavily. "He's still at the bar, as far as I know. I don't have any video because he pays the Sector Police to keep the drones away from his properties," he finally answered. "But Max, I'm begging you not to go there. Don't put yourself on his radar. There's more you don't kn-"

"Let me know if you find anything else. I'll get him back."

Max hung up the phone and turned her bike. It would take some time to get back to the bar and as the minutes ticked past, and with each checkpoint where she had to wait in line and show her Jam Pony ID to get through, she got more and more impatient, more frustrated, and more frightened. It had been hours and hours now, and every second Alec was in their hands, the danger grew. She knew he could handle himself, but the fact that he'd set off his emergency button at all was a terrible sign.

Max stopped her Ninja outside the bar and hid it behind a nearby dumpster. Anderson must've called in a replacement for Alec, because the bar was open again for business. She took a calming breath and headed in.

The bar looked the same inside and out. Anderson was sitting at the same table at the back. There were two guys at a nearby booth who were probably his bodyguards, or at least thugs in his organization. A different bartender was serving a guy at the bar, and there were more patrons than there had been earlier, which stood to reason since it was later.

Max walked straight to the back and stopped right in front of the table. Anderson was looking down, shuffling through some papers. He had a glass of wine sitting in front of him, and he looked perfectly ordinary, not like a crime lord at all.

"You Anderson?" she asked.

He didn't bother to glance up from his papers. "May I help you?"

"Got a message for you," she replied.

That got his attention and he looked up. When he did, his ordinariness dropped away. Those eyes were just as cold as she remembered. His goons started to get out of their booth, but he waved them back. Anderson cocked his head to the side and his eyes narrowed. "Yes?"

"Give me Alec, and I won't rip your organization down brick by brick."

Anderson didn't even bat an eye, simply continued watching her with his cold, assessing eyes. "I see." He sat back in his chair. "I remember you. You were here at the bar earlier."

She nodded. "This is your only warning. Give me Alec, and I'll walk away."

"Who do you work for?"

"Me," she replied flatly. "Makes no difference to me who you are, or what you've been up to. Don't know, don't care. I just want Alec."

Anderson laced his fingers, and sat very still, continuing to assess her. His eyes roamed her face, as if he were interested in her features themselves, which was just pervy and weird. "You are an associate of his?" he asked.

"Did I say this was time for twenty questions?"

"You move like he does. Similar training, I would assume."

"You can assume all you want. As long as you assume I will make your life difficult in the next few minutes if you don't say something useful."

Anderson gave her a humorless smile. "I will make you a counteroffer."

Max sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm listening."

"I will take you to him. You convince him to answer one question and you can both leave."

She had to smirk. "Giving you some trouble, huh?"

"Do we have a deal?"

She shrugged. "I can try. Alec's been a pain in the ass since the day I met him. No guarantees."

Anderson rose from the table. "No answer, he doesn't leave."

"We don't leave, my warning still stands," she replied.

He clearly didn't believe her, but Max didn't care. She'd been underestimated again and again. He thought she was a stupid girl, probably there to rescue her boyfriend who'd gotten in too deep. He thought he could use her to get information out of Alec, and he probably had no intention of letting either of them leave, no matter what. Max was happy to let him think whatever he wanted as long as it got her to Alec.

Anderson walked around her toward the back of the bar. "Come with me."

There was a door to one side at the end of the hall. Anderson pulled the door open and Max saw a set of concrete stairs leading down into a basement. She immediately caught Alec's scent and knew he was there, but it was mixed with the heavy smells of blood and sweat. They'd caught him and brought him back to question him.

Anderson led the way down and Max followed. The basement was the same size as the floor above. There were crates, kegs, shelves and all of the normal supplies for a business: Paper towels, toilet paper, pretzels, peanuts, etc.

Max stopped at the foot of the stairs and took extra time to catalogue all the windows, another exit that led directly outside, and two guards standing close by. Both were over-muscled bodyguard types. One was in a dark suit. The other was clean-cut, wearing tan slacks and a polo, like he was fresh from the country club. The blood on his right hand and a spray of it across his shirt, however, ruined the picture. They were both wearing shoulder holsters, but Mr. Suit had his gun in his hand.

Max had to force herself to stand perfectly still. Every instinct told her to run toward the chair holding the bound collection of clothing, dirt and blood. If she didn't know it was Alec, she never would have recognized him. His face was distorted by bruising and swelling. Blood and grime streaked his clothing and she could see open wounds on the exposed skin of his arms. He was tightly bound to the chair with his hands behind him, and it was an awkward enough position he was having trouble breathing. Either that or he was in such bad shape he was struggling for air.

Max crossed her arms and cocked a hip, hoping she was a picture of vaguely annoyed nonchalance. "If this was how you wanted to make him talk, you guys are more clueless than I thought."

Anderson merely raised an eyebrow. "You don't approve?"

Max shrugged. "A bottle of expensive Scotch would have got you farther. He can put up with this for days."

Alec gave a tired smile through bloodstained lips and teeth, and his eyes met Max's. He was terrified that she was there, but he was desperate to hide it. "Way I was raised…," he said, "we had mind games for breakfast… torture for lunch. This is kinda amateur hour… to be honest."

"I see," Anderson said grimly.

"Doesn't matter. What's the question?" Max asked.

Anderson gestured to his men, pointing at Max, and they immediately turned their guns on her.

"Where is she?" he demanded, looking at Alec.

Max stood frozen in place, but Alec let out a wet, gasping laugh. "Really? You're gonna go with the… threaten-the-other-prisoner ploy?"

"Where is she?" Anderson repeated.

Alec shook his head. "I don't know what you think… I did… but I still can't tell you anything."

"Where. Is. She?"

"Who are we talking about?" Max asked, rather than listen to him repeat the same thing over and over. He'd probably been doing it from the beginning and obviously hadn't gotten anywhere.

"I didn't say this was time for twenty questions," he parroted her earlier remark.

"You want answers, I need to know what you need out of him."

Anderson gritted his teeth. "My mother is missing."

Max blinked in surprise. "Your mom?"

"Yes," he bit out, clearly furious that he had to tell her anything at all. "Someone disabled the security just long enough to get her out of the house."

Max looked at Alec and saw a mischievous glint in his eye and Max knew that Alec had definitely gotten himself involved far beyond mission parameters.

"Seriously, Alec?"

He just raised his eyebrows as if to say, "What did you expect?"

"Tell me where she is, or your friend is the next casualty."

"Sir?"

Anderson turned to look up the stairs where one of his men stood in the open door. "What?" he snapped impatiently.

"We found her, sir."

"Finally." He gestured to the guy in the suit. "You're with me." He pointed to Country Club Psycho Boy. "Kill him and dispose of the body. Keep the woman. I'll be back for her later."

With that ominous statement, Anderson hurried up the stairs followed by his bodyguard who closed the door behind them. Max didn't feel like getting tied up, so she didn't bother wasting any time. She blurred across the room and swept the man's legs out from under him. At the same time she landed a perfectly placed punch meant to knock a man out. He dropped like a ton of bricks and didn't move again.

"I wish you'd been here earlier," Alec said without a hint of sarcasm. He just sounded exhausted and hurt, not something she was used to hearing from him.

"Yeah, well, you sent me away and told me not to mess with your big secret mission or whatever."

"Yeah, well… I'm an idiot." His voice was slurred, and Max wondered how close he was to being unconscious.

"Can't argue with that." She finished searching the downed man, pleased when she found the key for Alec's cuffs. It was just faster than picking them or breaking them. She hurried to Alec and released him from the cuffs. Alec crumpled and fell forward, landing on the floor with a thud. Max moved to his side and turned him over carefully so she could get a good look at him.

She didn't know where to start.

"I'll be ok," Alec wheezed. "Nothing you can do anyway."

Uncuffing him seemed to have eased some of the stress on his lungs, but he still sounded bad, panting for air.

"What happened?"

"I told Logan to call in an anonymous tip… to keep Sheffield from… killing the guy… that I threw in the van. Anderson was already suspicious… Sheffield's arrest was one thing too many… then he got word his mom was gone. The Sector Cops had me detained… because I was in the van with Sheffield, but a couple of 'em… were on the take. They brought me here instead." He coughed, a wet, hacking cough. He curled into himself onto his side, struggling to breathe.

"Easy, Alec," Max said. "Easy." She placed a hand on his back and leaned over him, completely helpless to do anything for him.

After a few moments, Alec actually stopped breathing, but Max could see it was on purpose, trying to protect his ribs.

"No, Alec, you have to breathe," she ordered. "Keep it shallow. You know how this works. Don't make me hit you."

"Please, don't," he rasped, and coughed again. She had a feeling one of his lungs had been punctured by a broken rib and collapsed. He was in serious trouble.

Max rolled him onto his back again, and let him concentrate on breathing while she looked him over to catalogue his injuries. She needed to judge if he was even safe to move. She pulled up his blood-slicked shirt and bit back a gasp.

"Alec, these are stab wounds."

"Really? Had no idea."

"What happened?"

"Tried to get the info… out of me. Who I worked for… what I told 'em. The Sector Cop told… about my panic button. They were hoping someone… would come looking… for me." He pointed at her. "Doubt they were expecting… a looker like you."

"Seriously? You're gonna try that _now_?" Max tried to get a look at his injuries. Most of the cuts looked fairly shallow, like they'd been using fear and pain to get information rather than wanting to do any permanent damage, but at least one was definitely deeper and bleeding more than the others.

Max put pressure on the wound and Alec let out a strangled cry. "Remind me… to kill that guy," he said through gritted teeth.

"Any other injuries I need to know about?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No time. We have to go." Alec pushed her hands aside, and tensed his muscles as if to sit up, but fell back to the floor, panting.

"Not going to happen." She shook her head. "Not while you're such a mess."

Alec tensed again, and this time managed to make it to a sitting position, grimacing against the pain.

"Max, I…" He looked both angry and embarrassed. "I can't do this… alone. I need… your help."

"I'll help you to a doctor. That's it," she replied.

"No time. Mrs. Anderson… was nice to me. I told her… I'd help her. I can't let him… get to her."

"I'll call Logan," she tried offering a compromise. "He can get the sector police to go."

Alec sucked in a painful breath and forced himself to his feet. He immediately staggered and Max had to grab him to keep him upright. He took several seconds, breathing carefully to get himself back together.

"Anderson _owns_ … the police," he said through gritted teeth.

"Whatever. You're a mess, Alec. You're no good to anyone like this."

Alec turned a murderous look on her. She didn't know if she'd ever seen determination like that on his face. He was always so laid back. It was startling.

"Get my gun… off the guy… on the floor. I want it back."

Max shook her head in disapproval, but truth be told, she didn't want anything of Alec's left down there. There shouldn't be any ties back to them. Max released Alec and waited a second to make sure he would stay upright. When he held his own, she went back to the guy she'd knocked out and pulled the gun out of his pocket. She hurried back to Alec and gladly handed it over. She didn't even like holding the things.

"Look, you're barely standing. Let me get you somewhere safe, and I'll take care of it myself."

Alec was already shaking his head before she'd finished making the offer. "I promised her, Max. I looked her… in the eye… and I promised her… I'd keep her safe."

Max sighed. She knew all about the burden of a promise like that. She'd made more than her fair share of them. Some she'd kept. Some she'd failed miserably.

"Where is she?"

"My safe house… on Barker Street."

"Are you serious? You have a safe house?"

Alec's eyes widened. "You don't?"

"Um… no."

Alec tutted. "Not smart, Maxie. Always have a fallback. Manticore taught… a lot of crap, but that was a… good lesson to keep."

Max pulled his arm across her shoulders and wrapped an arm around his waist to take some of his weight. Alec groaned at the movement, but didn't protest. He was shaking and Max was again worried about how much damage had been done to put him in this shape.

"I don't like thinking about Manticore's lessons."

They shuffled painfully toward the exit that led directly outside. It was a platform type elevator for bringing deliveries straight into the basement from the alley behind the bar. It was a good thing too. Max didn't know if Alec could make it up the steep concrete stairs.

"Doesn't matter," Alec answered. He was pushing himself to hurry. Anderson was already ahead of them. Max helped as much as she could, but she didn't want to hurt Alec more than he already was. "They beat the lessons in… and they stuck."

"We can still choose to let them go. We can change. We don't have to be soldiers."

The man Max had knocked out began to stir. Alec detached himself from Max and staggered over to the guard who'd tortured him and then been left behind to murder him. "Can't say I… didn't warn you, pal. Said… not to touch me."

"Alec, what are you-"

Alec shot him point blank.

Alec turned back toward her and shuffled toward the elevator. "I'll always be a soldier, Max."

* * *

 _Oh, boy. Alec's had a very, very bad day. More soon..._


	7. Chapter 7

_Last chapter, Alec was in terrible shape but he was determined to save Anderson's mother for some reason. On we go!_

Chapter Seven

* * *

Max moved as quickly as she dared. By the time they'd made it up and out to her bike, Alec's lips were blue. He wasn't breathing deeply to avoid the pain, but she was also sure he had a collapsed lung. She'd taken a quick listen to his chest and there was a definite difference from side to side.

Alec hadn't said a word when she'd had to help him on her bike. Now, he was pressed to her with his arms around her and he hadn't made a single lewd remark. He was shaking and leaning heavily against her, holding on by sheer determination alone. As she turned a corner, she took it easier than she normally would for fear he would fall.

"We're almost there," she said over her shoulder.

"Just go," he wheezed. They got plenty of odd looks when they passed through checkpoints, but Max did a lot of yelling that she had to get him to a hospital and they let her through.

Finally, they reached the address he'd given her. It was a typical, rundown, two-story building that had been turned into apartments. A car that was much too expensive for the neighborhood was parked out front. It told her Anderson had beaten them there, but at least he hadn't left with his mother yet.

"Alec, stay here. I can handle this."

Alec didn't have the energy to argue. He simply struggled his way off the bike, pulled his gun from his waistband and let it hang loose at his side.

Max rolled her eyes. "Fine. Give me the layout," she ordered.

"Steep staircase up to the… second floor apartment, bedroom to the left… on entry. Stairs are noisy, but… the bedroom has a fire escape."

"And this lady?"

"Frail," he said. "Can't hurry… or fight or…" He shook his head. "She can't hustle… down the stairs."

"Will he kill her?"

"Dunno. She tried to go… to the cops once… and he's kept her… locked away ever since. Never sees her."

Alec turned and headed around the corner of the building. She followed and turned the corner in time to see Alec reach for the fire escape ladder and promptly crumple against the wall and wrap his arms around his chest. He stayed upright, but it was close.

"Idiot."

"I think we've… established… that," he gasped out.

Max pulled down the metal ladder. It was well oiled and nearly silent. Alec had made sure the stairs were noisy so he could hear people coming, but his exit would be silent.

"Alec, stay here. I can…"

She trailed off when he pushed away from the wall. "No."

They didn't have time to argue, so Max simply turned and began scaling the ladder. Max climbed to the window and waited while Alec struggled his way up to the second floor. It was a good thing they were up against normal humans. Alec's breathing was loud enough to wake the dead, his wheezing almost a whistle it was so bad. Max stretched out and pulled him up as soon as she could reach him. Alec leaned against the building for support. His lips were blue again and his complexion had gone gray beneath the blood and grime.

"Alec, this is stupid," she hissed. "You can't _breathe_."

"Window," he shot back. "Hurry."

Max shook her head, but turned to the window. It, too, slid open soundlessly like the fire escape ladder.

The bedroom was empty, with no more than a mattress on the floor and a blanket folded at the foot. She had no doubt he had a collection of supplies hidden in the safe house, but they wouldn't be in plain sight. The bedroom door was closed, so Max climbed inside without any fear of alerting Anderson or his men. She then leaned back out and helped Alec through the window. He nodded his thanks and staggered to the closed bedroom door. Max joined him and they both held their breath to listen.

"You bring your thugs here?" she heard a frail voice say. "You need them to deal with your own mother?"

"You made it necessary." Max recognized Anderson's voice, devoid of any feeling as usual.

"No, _you_ did," she said sadly, "when you became this… gangster, and expected me to tolerate such behavior. Your father would be so ashamed."

"I'm ashamed of the state he left us in when he died, so we're even."

"Your father was a good man," she said, clearly incensed on behalf of her dead spouse. "He worked hard and he kept you fed."

"He was weak. He worked for pennies and then he died."

"He loved you," Mrs. Anderson said, and Max could tell she had started to cry.

"Love doesn't feed a family, especially when the breadwinner's dead."

"Oh, honey," she said apparently at a loss for words, and Max knew their time was up.

"Stand up, Mother. We will take you back to your house."

"You mean my prison?"

"You are well taken care of," he countered. "And there's no use to fight this. Your new protector is already dead."

"What?" She sounded horrified. "You killed Alec?"

"I will kill anyone who threatens my organization," he answered and the warning was clear. His mother was on thin ice.

"That's our cue," Alec said.

Max cracked open the door on silent hinges and she wondered when Alec had had the time to work on his safe house.

Mrs. Anderson was sitting on a chair at a battered old kitchen table. She was tiny and thin as a rail, with short, steel gray hair in a typical old lady curl. Her flowered dress was mostly covered by a heavy cardigan that she had pulled tight around her.

Anderson was standing with his back to them, a guard on either side of him. Max pointed to the right to say she would take that guard.

Alec just looked at her and shook his head, his expression sad. He raised his gun and a second later both guards were down.

Anderson spun around, but he wasn't armed and he stopped at the sight of Alec holding the gun.

"Alec!" Mrs. Anderson shouted, then she brought a hand to her mouth in shock as she got a good look at him.

"Are you ok, Minnie?"

"I'm fine," she answered shakily. "But you… Alec, you need to get to a hospital."

"I know," he said through a bloody smile. "Your son's… hospitality is… lousy."

"I'm well aware."

"Just what do you think is going to happen here?" Anderson snapped. "I have an entire network of people. They will hunt you down for this."

"How… about this?" Alec gasped out, and Max was afraid he was going to keel over at any moment. "Minnie leaves… with me… and we… forget… this ever happened."

"Alec, stop talking," Max snapped, and wonder of wonders, he did. She looked at Anderson. "We're leaving, and your mom's coming with us."

"You just murdered two men. You think you can walk away?"

Max shook her head. Shocked as she might be about Alec's choices, she wasn't the one who was barely standing after being tortured for hours by these bastards. "You try to turn us in, I tell a different story and suddenly we're the people who saved poor Minnie from these two kidnappers. We'll be heroes," she bluffed.

Anderson obviously wasn't impressed. Max saw him tense his muscles only seconds before he rushed Alec who was in such bad shape, he didn't react in time. Anderson snapped the gun out of Alec's hand, then turned it and aimed it at Alec, who'd fallen to the floor. He was on his side, loose-limbed, and Max doubted he was conscious.

"Don't move or he's dead," Anderson warned, as if Max didn't have the idea already.

Max held up her hands. She could blur and take the gun away, but he might get a shot off, or involuntarily squeeze the trigger when she hit him. She didn't know if Alec could survive another injury. She didn't know if he could survive at all.

"Not moving," she said. "Like I said before… I don't care about you or your organization. I just want Alec."

Anderson narrowed his eyes. "If that were true, you wouldn't be here."

"I can't help it that Alec's a moron. I tried to get him to go to the hospital, but somehow being tortured kind of ticked him off."

What Anderson didn't see was his mother as she bent down and took a gun from one of the dead guards. She straightened and aimed the gun at her son with shaking hands.

"You think this is a negotiation?" Anderson said. "I'll kill you, I'll kill him, and then I'm leaving with my mother. You'll just be another pair of dead street rats."

"Honey, I can't let you do that."

Anderson turned only slightly and his eyes widened at the sight of his mother pointing the gun at him. "What are you doing?"

"I can't let you hurt anyone else. I couldn't do anything before, but I can now." Her face was a mask of sorrow, but her voice was steady.

"This isn't funny. Put the gun down." He turned around and aimed the gun at Alec, ready to put him down like a dog. "I'll take care of this and we'll-"

The gunshot was deafening in the enclosed room.

The shot turned Anderson from the force. With a gasp of fury, he aimed toward his mother. Max kicked the gun from his hand and it clattered away as Anderson crumpled to the floor and didn't move again.

The room was silent for several seconds with the exception of Alec's ragged breathing. Neither Max nor Mrs. Anderson moved, both frozen in place while Anderson took one last breath, and then fell completely still.

Mrs. Anderson walked to him, looking down at her dead son, fat tears falling down her cheeks. Her mouth was tightly closed, and she was shaking like a leaf. She leaned down and placed the gun she'd used to kill him on his chest. "I'm so sorry, honey," she whispered. "I love you."

Mrs. Anderson straightened and walked around her son. She knelt next to Alec and gently brushed his hair back from his swollen, bruised face.

"Crazy boy. I tried to warn you not to help me."

"He doesn't listen very well," Max offered. "But he's hard to kill, thankfully."

"Do you have a phone?" Mrs. Anderson asked. "He needs an ambulance."

Alec let out a pained sound. "Max?" It was drawn out, more of a groan than an actual word.

"Alec?" Max dropped to her knees at his side across from Mrs. Anderson. "Hey. You awake?"

He blinked open his eyes, although she could tell he was dazed. "You know…" He licked his lips. "When I said… I needed to use… my skills…"

"You get that stupid idea out of your system?"

"Just… shoot me… next time… save me… the effort."

He was struggling for air. His lips were blue, as were his fingers now, and that was on top of his other injuries. Max thought furiously. She tried to calculate how long it would take an ambulance to get there against the time it would take to get him to Anderson's car and drive him herself, although that would jar him badly to move him down the stairs.

"There's no time," she said. "We have to take him ourselves."

Mrs. Anderson looked horrified, but nodded. "Very well."

"Alec, we have to move you."

"I's… afraid… of that," he wheezed.

"You ready?" she asked. This was going to hurt him badly, if he stayed conscious.

"No," Alec answered, then, "Do it."

Max didn't wait. She grabbed him under his arms and hauled him up. Alec cried out, but he stayed standing through sheer stubbornness. He held onto her and his head landed on her shoulder, his panting breath loud in her ear.

"We need to move," she warned. She felt him nod, and knew he was beyond speaking. Max turned slightly to throw his arm over her shoulder, but the movement was too much and Alec slumped against her.

It was a mercy, and Max took full advantage. She shouldered him in a fireman's carry. "Door," she barked.

Mrs. Anderson was staring at her like she was an alien, but she hurried to open the door. Max carried Alec down the stairs. There was a guard waiting with the car.

"Who are you?"

"Open the door," she snapped. "Anderson wants us out of here now."

The guard looked at her oddly, as if he knew something was up, but opened the rear door of the car out of sheer habit of responding to orders.

Max gently set Alec down in the back seat. She was covered in blood from carrying him, and she knew he was still bleeding from the stab wound. His body hadn't been able to plug the holes yet, especially not with how hard he was pushing himself.

Max stood back up from the car and faced the guard, who was looking toward the door to the apartment building.

"Where's the boss? I thought I heard-"

Max clocked him. She caught him before he fell and dragged him around the corner of the building out of sight. She dug in his pocket for the car key, ran back and asked Mrs. Anderson, "Can you drive?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"Ok, you're in the back. Try to keep some pressure on the stab wound." She placed a hand on her own belly to show her where the wound was.

Mrs. Anderson, fragile as she looked, nodded in determination. She pulled off her cardigan and hurried into the back seat, lifting Alec's head and shoulders so they were in her lap. She immediately saw where the blood was coming from and pressed her cardigan to the wound.

Satisfied that Alec was being cared for, Max got into the driver's seat and tore away from the curb, headed toward the hospital.

Max glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Mrs. Anderson was once again crying.

"Honey, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."

"No," Alec rasped, surprising Max that he was conscious again. He really was amazingly stubborn.

"My… fault… got caught… stupid."

"Oh, honey, just rest. We're almost there. You rest."

"Not… your… fault…," he said with more strength, and Max could feel that he genuinely cared for the old lady, which surprised her as much as anything else. She just didn't think of Alec caring about anyone but himself. Yet, he'd allowed himself to be tortured to protect this woman. He was hurting himself now to keep her from blaming herself.

It was like a light dawning. She started to think back on other times when he'd helped, not only her, but Joshua, and got nothing in return. He'd helped her clone, even Logan, and others, maybe all the way back to when he'd found the x-series trapped in a fish tank.

She really should have known there was more to it when he started acting weird. She should have known he was up to something. Her prejudice had kept her from paying better attention, and now Alec was barely alive in the back seat.

"You have to stay awake, honey," she urged. "You have to stay with me."

Alec didn't answer and Max gripped the wheel more tightly as she slid around a corner.

"Alec, stay awake," Minnie ordered in a voice Renfro would have admired. "You have to tell me more about that girl of yours."

Max heard a gurgling sort of wheeze from the back seat.

"You told me how beautiful she is and how smart she is and how brave. I want to know more. You promised to introduce us."

There was no response this time, nothing.

"Alec?" Her voice was getting louder and more strident. "Alec?"

"What's happening?" Max demanded.

"He's not breathing." Mrs. Anderson looked up and her eyes met Max's in the rearview mirror. "I think he's gone."

* * *

 _More soon…_


	8. Chapter 8

_Let's see what kind of trouble we can get up to today, eh?_

Chapter Eight

* * *

Max listened as the ER doctors tossed out orders right and left. Alec had stopped breathing in the car not far from the hospital, but Max knew one of them could go without oxygen for a lot longer than the average person. They'd been built that way, and then trained intensively to work while oxygen deprived. Even brain damage could be repaired given time, but only if his heart was still beating.

Max filtered out everything else, all the smells and sights and other noises, and focused on only the sounds from Alec's cubicle. She'd heard orders for a chest tube and blood and an OR to be prepped and a dozen other things. They hadn't gotten around to asking if the Sector Police had been informed, but once Alec's situation was less dire they would.

Dr. Shankar was on her way now. The ER people were ok for the moment, but Alec was going to need someone who knew about Transgenics to take care of him.

Max didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or sob when she heard the beep as Alec's heart caught the beat again and steadied. The internal bleeding had been putting stress on his heart as well as the lungs, and the chest tube had eased the pressure. Alec was breathing with assistance and his heart was beating. Everything else could be dealt with given time.

Mrs. Anderson was sitting beside her in the ER waiting room. They'd both had a chance to clean up a bit, but their clothing was still a mess. Neither of them could bear to leave though, and there was nothing to do but wait. Her companion appeared calm on the outside, but Max caught her occasionally brushing a tear away. She didn't know if it was because she'd just killed her own son, or if she was scared for Alec. Probably both.

Max didn't really understand why Alec had been so determined to rescue her, but he'd promised to protect her, and for Alec that might have been enough. Giving his word to someone was probably something completely new to him. He'd promised very, very few people anything in his life, let alone been allowed to follow through.

Max suspected there was more to it than that, though. Alec would have only known Mrs. Anderson for a few weeks, or maybe a bit longer, depending on how long he and Logan had been sneaking around without telling her. Alec had formed some sort of bond with Mrs. Anderson, something beyond just helping an old lady who needed it.

"He's told me all about you, you know."

"Yeah?" Max shrugged. "I bet he said I was always bossing him around."

Mrs. Anderson's lips quirked up in a tired smile. "He might have mentioned it." She patted Max's knee. "He also said he didn't know where he'd be if you hadn't been there to help him. I think that goes for me too, tonight."

Max only nodded. If not for her interference, Alec would probably be living the high life of the moral-free entrepreneur. People like that seemed to get pretty far in these everyone-for-themselves days. On the other hand, he might be rotting in jail for Ben's murders. It was hard to tell. The question was, where would she be? Would she still be running around free? Alec had made the difference between success and failure more often than she wanted to admit.

"He told me you had a gentleman friend." Her tone rose a bit as if it were a question.

"Used to," Max answered, growing more and more uncomfortable with the conversation. She didn't like that Alec had been spilling his guts to this lady.

"I see. And how do you feel about Alec?"

"He's… a friend. That's it." Max wanted to squirm in her seat, but she'd been trained for harsher interrogations than this, and did her best to look unbothered. It was definitely weird to think of Alec as a friend in the first place, let alone as anything else like Mrs. Anderson was implying.

"That's what Alec says, too, despite how much he likes to tell me about you and your exploits."

Max breathed out a sigh of relief at that. At least Alec hadn't gone completely mental and declared his undying love or something to some random old woman.

"He never actually said it, but... reading between the lines," Mrs. Anderson was watching her closely, "Alec told me it didn't matter anyway. He feels he isn't good enough for you."

"What?" Max frowned and turned toward Mrs. Anderson. "What does that even mean?"

"It means he thinks very highly of you," she answered kindly, "and he thinks he's done too much to be forgiven."

Max could still feel her shock and see the look on Alec's face when he'd shot the two guards. Thinking back, she couldn't tell if what he'd done had bothered him or if it was her seeing it that had bothered him.

She was still trying to right it with her conscience. The men had been killers, of that she had no doubt. They'd tortured Alec and they were going to take Mrs. Anderson, lock her up, and throw away the key. Max could have fought them, but she wasn't sure she could have fought Anderson and his two goons without one of them getting off a shot or two.

Alec's method of evening the odds had been practical, but the brutality of it rankled. She didn't like to think about what Manticore had taught them or made of them, but they were weapons, plain and simple. Alec even more so since he'd been there so much longer. Sometimes they just had to own what and who they were, but that didn't mean she had to like it.

"Forgiven? I don't know what that has to do with me," Max replied, deliberately ignoring where this line of thinking was heading, "but Alec's done pretty well given where he started." He had come a long way. She could be fair, and admit that much.

"I know, honey. He's told me all about it."

Max froze, uncertain that she'd just heard what she thought she heard. " _All_ about it?"

Mrs. Anderson nodded. "I know who you both are and where you were raised. He's also told me about a great many things that happened after you left. I would say you've both done well, given your beginnings."

"Why would he tell you all that?" Max asked, appalled. He'd flat out refused to talk about what happened except for a few vague things like, "You think life was rough when we were ten?" or "You did what you had to do, then you tried to forget."

"Because he needed to, honey. He needed someone to listen, I think." She shook her head. "Maybe I did too. My son kept me locked in that house for a long time. I always had everything I needed, but I was still a prisoner. Alec was easy to talk to."

Max frowned. "It's kind of hard to believe. I have trouble getting him to shut up, normally, but he never says anything important."

"Camouflage," Mrs. Anderson said. "I would have thought you of all people would recognize it when you saw it."

Max shrugged. "Maybe." She remembered what Joshua had said about Alec. _Outside, lots of pretty colors, inside, darkness._ That was true of pretty much all of them. Alec, though, he'd gone overtime to hide his troubled mind, not to mention the real disasters in his life. She knew all about that. She'd gone the standoffish-belligerent route to keep people at bay. Alec hid in plain sight as a charming rogue.

"How'd you guys even meet?" Max asked.

"Alec was snooping around through my son's papers and found the address for my house. It's gated and guarded, but he was determined to find what my son was hiding." She smiled. "He was very surprised to find it was an old lady like me."

"So you guys just started talking?"

"Actually, I offered him some cookies I'd just baked. The talking came later."

Max just shook her head in disbelief. Alec had been trying to take down a gangster and he'd found a grandma. Maybe that was part of why Alec had been so determined. He'd let his guard down around this woman. He'd told her who he really was and she still seemed to care for him. No wonder he'd been so ferociously protective.

"Maybe it's not my place, but…"

Max just raised her eyebrows and waited.

"Alec cares for you. I don't know if he even realizes it, or if he realizes what he was telling me when he talked about you. He… he has had a very… difficult life. From what I can tell, yours has been different, but just as hard. He barely understands friendship, let alone love."

"Whoa." Max held up her hands to stop the woman. "Alec doesn't love me. That's insane."

Mrs. Anderson shook her head. "As I said, he barely understands friendship. But with you… he's learning." She took Max's hand, and Max had to fight not to jerk it back. "Be patient. You're a good teacher. Don't give up on him."

"I… I won't," she promised, although she barely understood what she was promising.

A paunchy, balding man in his forties ran into the ER looking around frantically. His gaze finally landed on Mrs. Anderson and he changed direction.

"Mom!"

Mrs. Anderson jumped up and met the man halfway. He wrapped her frail form in a bear hug that Max was afraid would break her, but the old lady didn't seem to mind. When she pulled back. She looked up at the man, her hands on his cheeks, and laughed through her tears.

"I can't believe it. I've missed you so much." She pulled him down and kissed his face again and again. She laughed and cried and hugged him, completely oblivious to anyone watching them. "I'm so happy to see you."

"What happened?" the man finally asked. "How did you get away? Where's Michael?"

"He's gone," Mrs. Anderson answered and Max could hear the sadness and the relief in her voice, which was sad in and of itself. "A young man helped me get away, but your brother hurt him for it. That's why we're here."

"But you're not hurt?" He looked down at Minnie's bloodstained dress and blanched.

"No, honey. I'm fine. Just tired. The federal agent I tried to talk to before knows I'm here. He should be here soon and I'll tell him everything I know about the organization."

"Is that safe?"

"It has to be done. And they'll protect us, especially after what happened last time."

Max stopped listening. There had been a shift in the noise in Alec's room.

"Ok, let's get him to the OR," the doctor said.

Like a shot, the entire team working on Alec appeared from the room he was in and pushed his gurney loaded with equipment down the hall farther away from her.

"Max?"

She looked up to see Logan standing several feet away. As soon as they'd arrived at the hospital, Max had called him and asked him to find Dr. Shankar. She hadn't told him much, other than Alec was hurt, and they were about to be on the cops' radar. Mrs. Anderson had then called the feds and left a message for her old contact. Max didn't like being on the cops' radar, but she liked being on the feds' radar even less.

"Hey, Logan," Max said tiredly. She felt like she'd been running for days, and there didn't seem to be an end in sight.

"What happened?" Logan asked.

"They just took him to surgery," Max answered. She pursed her lips. She didn't trust herself to say more. They would fix him and then she would yell at him and then… She didn't know what she would do then, but she'd figure it out.

Logan sat down on the cushioned bench seat across from her and sighed. "You really do care about him, don't you?"

Max bristled. She hadn't forgotten about Logan keeping this little operation from her. Yes, he'd wanted to take down Anderson, but he could have asked someone from the S1W. Instead, he'd taken the opportunity to drive a wedge between her and Alec. He'd been trying to show her Alec's _true colors_.

"Why didn't you ask me to do it?" Max asked.

Logan sighed again. "Anderson never would have allowed a woman into the business. He's an old school chauvinist. Women to him are only wives or girlfriends or to be used. I needed someone who could get close and stay close."

"He got so close, he quit breathing on the way here."

Logan shook his head. "I never meant for it to go like this. We worked hard to keep it as safe as possible. We had our reasons, Max, but we didn't want you anywhere near Anderson or his people. And I just…" He looked at her, his eyes almost pleading. "I wanted you to tell me it wasn't real."

"It wasn't real," Max said, her voice flat. "We're not together. I made it all up."

"What?" Logan sat back in surprise.

"Alec wanted to tell you. But he didn't. For me. And now he's half-dead because I was too weak to tell the truth and stick to it."

"The truth?"

"As if you don't know?" she demanded, anger sneaking into her tone.

Logan's shoulders sagged. Oh, he knew all right. They couldn't be together. They _shouldn't_ be together. What was the point in torturing themselves?

"Alec's hurt because we're idiots, and that's totally on me." She could feel tears starting to form, and ordered them away. They were useless and self-pitying, and right now she was just angry. She was angry at herself, and at Logan and Alec, and Anderson and his goons. She could also admit she was scared. She'd spent a lot of time in the past few weeks worrying about Alec and missing him, and if he was gone for good, she wasn't exactly sure how she would feel about that. Not to mention, Mrs. Anderson's little pep talk had made her all kinds of uncomfortable. She would need some time to think about it, but not while she was sitting in the ER waiting to know if Alec was going to live or die.

"Max, it doesn't have to be this way."

Max felt a sense of certainty settle over her. Her indecision and cowardice had led to this. _She_ had indirectly hurt Alec. She wasn't going to be a coward anymore.

"Yes, it does. I'm sorry, but we're done. It's just not possible and I should have said it straight out."

"We'll find a cure," he tried.

"Maybe, maybe not. How many more people have to get hurt while we try?" She looked him straight in the eye. "Maybe I'll kill you in the meantime. Or maybe more people will get hurt while we try to find the cure. Or maybe we'll keep doing stupid crap like this while we don't talk about our actual issues."

"So that's it?" he asked.

Max shrugged. She just felt cold inside now, cold and tired, with a side order of guilt gnawing at her.

Logan nodded, although she doubted he was actually finished. It didn't matter. She was stubborn and she'd finally made up her mind, a few weeks too late unfortunately. He stood and walked across the ER waiting room to talk to Mrs. Anderson who was still talking to her son, although more quietly now.

Max turned away and ignored them. For a moment, she considered sneaking back to check on Alec, but knew it was useless. He was in the OR and she was going to have to trust them to do their jobs.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement. She turned her head just in time to see someone walking down the hall where they'd taken Alec.

It took her a second, but she finally remembered where she'd seen him before. It was Sheffield, the man who'd driven the van from the bar, the man Alec had turned in to the police. He'd gotten out of jail somehow and he was headed down the hall toward Alec.

* * *

 _More soon…_


	9. Chapter 9

_Max caught a glance of Sheffield in the hospital headed toward Alec. I'm afraid her work isn't done…_

Chapter Nine

* * *

Max was so frustrated she wanted to scream. Sheffield was in the building, and she had no doubt that he was Anderson's go-to guy for taking care of problems. When he picked up the unconscious guy from the bar, she remembered him saying he would add it to his bill, like it was normal. If she had to guess, the guy Sketchy found in the office building was Sheffield's work. Max had seen the look in his eyes. Sheffield was a guy who would be happy to chop off a few fingers to send a message.

Max had gone straight to hospital security, but they'd basically blown her off. They'd told her not to worry and that they would keep an eye out. She'd therefore searched the hospital herself, but with a guy like Sheffield, a one woman search just wasn't going to cut it.

Max had, therefore, bullied her way past the Employees Only doors and parked herself outside the OR. She'd informed them she was Alec's bodyguard and snarled at anyone who dared try to move her. Security hadn't cared about Sheffield, but they had decided to get off their asses for that, and showed up to remove her. Thankfully, Dr. Shankar had arrived and vouched that Alec was a VIP with a bodyguard, and she was his personal physician.

Once security left, Max had kept her eyes peeled, all the while listening as the doctors and nurses worked to repair the damage. As Max had feared, the broken ribs had torn into his lungs. One had completely collapsed, the other partially. The liver had been damaged, as had one of the kidneys, and the intestines had been nicked. Max didn't know if that was from the beating, the shredded ribs, or the stabbing, maybe all of it.

The doctors were sure an infection was imminent from the bowel perforation, and Max forced herself to keep quiet. Alec's body could fight an infection and fix the damage. They just had to keep him alive long enough for his body to begin the repairs.

Finally, after what felt like hours, they finished, with only a few odd mentions that some of the tissue seemed to be in better shape than they'd originally thought. They didn't know about the quick repair process a Transgenic could manage and Dr. Shankar did her best to distract them from noticing anything too obviously out of the norm. Max just knew she was going to owe the doctor for the rest of her life.

The doors finally opened and Alec was wheeled out to the recovery room. Max followed them whether they liked it or not and apparently the look on her face was enough to keep anyone from saying any differently.

In the recovery room, the nurses bustled around him, setting up more machines and monitoring equipment than Max had thought possible for a hospital to produce in Post-Pulse Seattle. Nevertheless, she was grateful. She could see his vitals for herself on the screen above his head that read out all sorts of nice stats, not that she knew what half of them were.

More time passed as Max stood against the wall of the recovery room, watching as the nurses occasionally stopped to check on Alec, watched to make sure he was still breathing. With all of the patching and the chest tube, his lungs were recovering, probably better than the doctors would have thought possible, but he was still on a ventilator while they repaired themselves and returned to being the pink little balloons they were supposed to be, or at least that's how she was choosing to think of it.

Most of the nurses ignored her. They looked after the other patients as they were moved in and out of recovery. It worried her that other patients didn't have to stay as long before being moved to rooms. At one point, there was a flurry of movement and the nurses drew vials of blood. They came back a few minutes later with two more bags to add to the IV drip. It seemed to right whatever was wrong, but since no one bothered to explain, she was left with nothing to do but stand there and watch the blips and numbers on the screens.

Finally, they decided he was stable to move to a room. A transport team arrived to accompany him to a different area of the hospital. The ICU was still a rundown looking craphole, but it did have more equipment and staff than the norm.

Dr. Shankar arrived and once against pulled the VIP business and made sure both that she was his personal physician who would be looking after him, and that Max was allowed to remain at all times.

When Alec was settled and all the medical people seemed satisfied, Max finally allowed herself to relax. It was as if she'd been holding her breath since the moment Alec had set off his distress signal. There was a metal chair in the corner and she sagged down into it, allowing relief and hope to seep back in after hours of preparing for the worst.

Dr. Shankar came back in the room, and spent some time looking at Alec's vitals, and the various machines and tubes still attached. Finally, she turned to Max. She smiled kindly and Max felt that last bit of worry and fear fall away.

"He's going to be okay, Max."

"He doesn't look okay."

"The lungs are re-inflating. I'm probably going to remove the ventilator in a few minutes because he's already fighting it. He'll be short of breath, but better to breathe on his own. The muscles we use to breathe get lazy very quickly. The chest tube will stay, but it will come out soon as well. It will need to since he's going to heal so quickly. "

"The ribs?" Max asked. "The stab wounds?"

"Healing like everything else. Just give him time and rest. Your bodies are amazing. Now that he's stable, it's only a matter of time."

Max was shocked to feel a tear trail down her cheek. "Thank you."

"He's doing the hard work. Be patient with him."

It was like an echo of what Mrs. Anderson had said and Max was once again shaken by thoughts that had never really occurred to her. Alec had talked and talked about her, and worried he wasn't good enough. Alec who always talked like he was so sure of himself… And now Max wasn't sure of much at all.

It was like a stream that had been happily flowing within its banks for ages and someone came along and threw a huge rock in, and suddenly the stream was crashing against it, and diverted outside its banks, trying to cut a new path.

Max didn't like new paths. She didn't like having to re-think everything. She certainly didn't like to think that she'd been missing something for so long. She liked the status quo, if there was such a thing for a person like her. Anything out of the ordinary usually meant disaster, and she hated every second of it.

All Max knew was that she had been worried sick about Alec, followed up by terrified that she would lose him. She cared about him. She had to or she wouldn't have been so scared. Mrs. Anderson had said he barely understood friendship. Max wondered if that wasn't true for her too. She'd spent her whole life keeping people at a distance. She had O.C., but it had taken a long time for her to tell her the truth. The real difference between her and Alec, however, was that she'd had a family. She'd had her brothers and sisters. Alec hadn't had that friendship, that love, when he was young.

Dr. Shankar left, promising to return shortly. Almost as soon as she was gone, though, a man in a suit appeared in the doorway. He was in his 50s, gray headed, pudgy, pale and tired looking. His charcoal colored suit was cheap and rumpled. His eyes, though, were alive, bright with intelligence and taking in everything. If Max had to guess, this was the federal agent Mrs. Anderson had tried to go to the last time she'd made a break for it.

The man walked in and looked from her to Alec and back again. "Max?"

"Yeah. And you are?" She stood up from her metal chair to face him.

"Agent Porter. Do you have a minute to talk?"

"Go ahead," she replied, her tone headed toward belligerent.

"I've borrowed a room downstairs where we won't be interrupted."

Max was already shaking her head. "Sheffield is here. I tried to get security to watch for him, but they brushed it off. I'm not leaving Alec here like a sitting duck."

"Sheffield is here? You saw him?"

Max nodded.

Porter pulled out a cell phone, which Max was pretty sure was against the ICU rules, but she wasn't going to knock it if the guy was going to help.

"Perez? Pass the word Sheffield is here at the hospital looking for the guy who informed on him. Send McIntyre to the ICU. Room…," he backed up so he could see the plaque outside the door, "229. I want a security detail until Sheffield's in custody."

Porter put his phone away and looked back to her. "We'll get him and we'll keep your friend safe. Sheffield never should have been released. He's wanted in several states for murder, among other things."

"That's what happens when you have the Sector Police in your pocket."

He didn't try to deny it. "That's exactly why they won't be anywhere near this investigation."

Max heard a choking sound from the bed and her head snapped in that direction. She hurried to Alec's side and saw that his eyes were open and wide with panic. She pointed to Porter. "Find Dr. Shankar. She shouldn't be far. Tell her he's awake."

Alec was choking, struggling against the tube in his throat. She knew he also had to be in terrible pain. His body would have already burned through whatever drugs he'd been given, along with the anesthesia. He could no doubt feel all of his injuries as well as the chest tube. His hands were in restraints because a Transgenic coming out from under anesthesia was likely to come out swinging, and they couldn't afford for him to pull out the chest tube, the vent, or the other drains. Max was almost certain, however, it was the vent that was making him panic.

"Alec, don't fight the ventilator. You need it right now, so let it breathe for you. Do you understand?" She waited several seconds while what she said filtered into his brain and he stopped fighting, although his eyes were still panicked. "Listen," she tried for soothing, but knew she was crap at it. She'd have to go for her usual tactic of just telling it like it was. "You have a chest tube. That's what you're feeling here." She laid a hand against his chest above where it was inserted in his side. "The stab wounds let a little air into the chest cavity, but the internal bleeding was the real problem. All the fluid built up and wouldn't let your lungs expand. Your lungs themselves were damaged by the stab wounds and then your crushed ribs also damaged them. They both collapsed. You were in surgery for a long time to patch you up, but the chest tube and the vent are doing the job, so don't mess with them."

She wrapped one hand around his bicep and set the other against his chest, so that he could feel she was really there. "Your lungs are already tons better, but you were hurt, ok?" Her voice cracked, but she ignored it. "You were hurt really bad, so just stay put. I'm here and Dr. Shankar's here to fix you up."

The longer she talked, the panic faded from his eyes, but they remained locked on her, as if she was a lifeline. "You getting any of this, or should I try again?"

He tried to say something, but there was no way. Max had a good idea though. "Mrs. Anderson is fine. Her other son, who apparently isn't a homicidal maniac, showed up a little while ago. She seemed really happy to see him."

Alec sagged back against the bed, and closed his eyes in relief. Yes, he'd been panicked about the vent, but he'd been terrified for one little old lady who'd evidently adopted him.

Dr. Shankar returned with a pair of nurses. She unceremoniously gestured to the door. "We're going to reassess him, and see about the vent. You'll need to wait outside."

"Alec?"

He opened his eyes again, but they were a bit glassy as if he was about to pass out again now that he knew Mrs. Anderson was safe.

"Dr. Shankar is here. She's going to take a look at you. I'll have to wait outside."

His eyes widened and Max grasped his hand in hers. "I won't be gone long, ok? Just do what the nice doctor says. I know you're crap at obeying orders, but this time it's for your own good."

Alec glanced toward the doctor, then back at her, and finally gave a tiny nod. She gave his hand a squeeze of reassurance. "Be right back."

Max walked to the door and glanced back to see Dr. Shankar leaning over Alec. "I wasn't expecting you to be awake yet," she said. "You and Max are always surprising me."

Satisfied he was in good hands, she turned to Agent Porter. He was standing in the hall talking to another man who was nodding along. The new guy was tall and wiry, but solid, all lean muscle. He had a severe military haircut, and as always it looked kind of odd when paired with his dark, fed issue suit.

"You the security detail?" Max asked.

"Yes. Agent McIntyre." He walked closer to her, but didn't hold out his hand in greeting, or even offer a nod of acknowledgement. Jerk.

"No one gets through the door. You understand me?"

McIntyre looked at his boss in disbelief at Max ordering him around, then turned back. "Of course," he answered, but his tone was appeasing at best, flippant at worst.

Max crossed her arms and cocked one hip. "Look, I'm not moving from this spot until I'm sure you can do the job," she said.

McIntyre narrowed his eyes. "I assure you, I'm-"

McIntyre gasped as she reached inside his suit coat, grabbed his gun from the shoulder holster, ejected the clip and the chambered round, and then turned the gun, holding it out to him butt first. She hated guns. That didn't mean she didn't know how to use them.

"If you were going to tell me you can protect him better than me, you're wrong. But your boss, here, needs to talk, so I'm counting on you. Bring your A game or you two can both leave."

McIntyre carefully took the gun. He bent down to pick up the bullet and clip she'd ejected and reloaded his weapon, all while watching her warily. Porter still had his hand on his own gun, as if just waiting for her to jump them.

"Sheffield's good," she said, remembering that he had gotten into a busy office and killed the businessman Sketchy had found, all without anyone noticing, or anything showing on surveillance. "Don't pretend like this is business as usual. Now do we understand each other?"

McIntyre straightened and nodded, as if acknowledging a superior officer. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Ok, then." She looked to Porter. "You gonna draw that gun, or can we get this done? I don't want to be gone long."

Porter stayed still as if seriously deciding whether or not to pull his weapon. Finally, he took his hand away and held it up to show he was unarmed. "Let's go."

Max nodded and followed him out of the ICU. They stood in the elevator in awkward silence. He'd been thinking of her as a girl crying over her injured friend. Now he knew she was dangerous.

They walked down another hallway to a small, dingy meeting room. Mrs. Anderson was seated at the table and her son was sitting beside her across from two more agents. As they entered, Mrs. Anderson stood, wringing her hands nervously. "How is he?"

"He's a wreck," Max answered, "but give him some time and he'll be all right."

"Oh, thank the Good Lord."

Max didn't know about that, but she was willing to take any help at all if it would keep Alec breathing. Listening to him gasp his last in the back seat was going to feature in her nightmares for a long time to come.

"Fordice," Porter said to one of the agents seated at the table. "Escort Mrs. Anderson and her son to the safe house. I'll call you later."

"May I see Alec first? I'd like to visit him before I go. I don't know if I'll be able to come back."

Porter simply nodded and then gestured for the two agents to go with her. Mrs. Anderson thanked him, and then walked to the door. She hugged Max, who accepted the gesture despite how awkward she felt doing it. Apparently, Mrs. Anderson just brought that sort of behavior out in people like her and Alec.

Once the others were gone, shutting the door behind them, Porter pointed toward a chair and Max sat while Porter took the chair across from her. He pulled out a recorder and set it on the table between them.

"Agent Robert Porter conducting this initial interview," he said for the benefit of the recording, giving his badge number as well as the date and time. He then looked at Max and raised his eyebrows. "Please state your full name."

"Max Guevara."

"So… for starters, why don't you tell me how you know Mrs. Anderson?"

"I don't," she answered. "I know Alec. He knows her."

"And how do you know Alec?"

"We're friends. Until a few weeks ago, he used to work for Jam Pony." When Porter made a face, she explained. "It's a bike messenger business."

"You seem very... capable for a bike messenger."

Max shrugged. "It's a tough town and people think I'm an easy mark. I learned early on I had to keep people from stealing my deliveries."

"I see."

Max could tell he didn't quite believe her, but she didn't care as long as he couldn't prove otherwise.

"And Alec is the same?"

"Yeah. He's worked there a while. Or he did before he before he started this mess."

"And what do you mean by 'this mess'?"

Max shrugged. "He quit and went to work at a bar Anderson owns… owned, now, I guess."

"Which bar?"

"The Blue Birch."

"And what did he do there?"

Max sighed. This was going to take a while at this rate, and she didn't like leaving Alec in McIntyre's hands. "He was a bartender. But somehow he ended up getting to know Mrs. Anderson. I have no idea how. I've hardly talked to him at all since he started working for Anderson. He was acting all secretive and weird. I got worried, then more worried, and finally I confronted him about it. He told me Anderson was a bad guy and somebody had to do something to bring him down. That was all he could tell me before Anderson and Sheffield showed up and I had to leave. Next thing I know, Alec sends a message that he's in trouble. I found him in the basement of the bar surrounded by Anderson and his goons. They'd beaten and stabbed him, and basically tried everything except kill him to figure out how much he knew. Mostly, though, Anderson was pissed because Alec had helped his mom escape from wherever he was keeping her. The only reason I got to see Alec at all was because Anderson wanted to use me to get Alec to talk. It didn't work out that way though."

"Why not?"

"Because Anderson got word they'd found his mom. He and most of the goons took off to bring her back. The one who was left was supposed to kill us, but Alec and I got free."

"We found a dead man in that basement," Porter said.

"I didn't say it was easy to get out of the basement," Max shot back.

"Then what happened?"

"I tried to get Alec to the hospital, but he wouldn't go. He was dead set on saving Mrs. Anderson before her psycho son could kill her or stash her away again."

"And how did you do that?"

"We rode to Alec's place, where he'd hidden Mrs. Anderson. Anderson tried to kill us and it didn't work out."

"Care to be more specific?"

"Alec shot two of Anderson's men. Mrs. Anderson shot her son when he was about to kill Alec."

"And you didn't think to call the authorities at any point? Maybe when Alec said he was in trouble or when Anderson was on his way to get his mother?"

"Thought about it." Max shrugged. "Didn't really feel like leaving Alec or Mrs. Anderson to the care of the Sector Police. They were the ones who gave Alec to Anderson in the first place when Sheffield was picked up. If they'd found Mrs. Anderson, they would have handed her right over to her son, too."

Porter nodded. To be honest, Max was surprised that Porter was being so easygoing. She'd expected a much more belligerent approach from a fed. "Mrs. Anderson has told us the same story, minus the events in the basement of the Blue Birch. From the amount of blood there, as well as what we found when we searched, it's fairly easy to see what happened there as well. Your friend, Alec, contacted us, asking for help to protect Mrs. Anderson. He explained briefly what he knew, and where Mrs. Anderson was going to be. Unfortunately, the message didn't get to me right away."

"How did you even know to go to the Blue Birch?" Max asked.

"Your friend, Mr. Cale, was in the ER waiting room with Mrs. Anderson. He told me you'd found Alec there, and I sent some of my people to check it."

"Are we in trouble?"

"Should you be?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Look, Anderson is dead. I don't know anything, and I just want Alec left out of this as much as possible." She really, really wanted them out of this. She didn't want to be on the fed's radar. They had enough problems as it was.

"We'll see." Porter reached over and picked up the recorder. "End initial interview," he said, clicked it off and put it in his breast pocket. Porter sighed and clasped his hands in front of him. "Look, I'm going to be straight with you."

"Ok."

"I've been trying to take down Anderson for years, all the time having to fight the local cops who protected him and tidied up after him." Max nodded and he continued. "I'm not interested in you or your boyfriend. You're not a part of the business, and Alec hasn't been in the business long enough to know anything much. We'll interview him of course, and take whatever information he has, but he's not going to be that much help. All I really want is Mrs. Anderson who's made it a point to gather as much information as possible over the years on her son's organization and his associates. You and your boyfriend saved her, and I'm grateful."

Max blinked in surprise. "Uhh… you're welcome."

Porter thought Alec was just a bartender who'd stumbled into a nest of snakes and gotten bit. He didn't know Alec was a trained operative who'd been gathering intel. Anderson was dead, and his mom was safe, so Max definitely wasn't going to inform Porter of his mistake.

"The scene at Alec's apartment has already been cleared. After I get Alec's official statement, I don't need anything else regarding Anderson's death. What I need now is information on the organization itself, and Alec won't have had access to much beyond what we already know. I am, however, going to warn you that Anderson's people may not appreciate your part in this. I can make a request for assistance in relocation-"

Max held up a hand to stop him. "We're good," she said. "We can take care of it."

He gave a wry smile. "I can see that."

Porter's cell phone beeped and he pulled it out of his pocket. He looked at the screen. "It's Fordice." He pressed the button and put the phone to his ear. "Yes?"

" _McIntyre's down_!" Max heard the other agent say. " _He's in there with him_!"

"Who?"

Max was already on her feet and moving. She knew who. Sheffield had made it past the security detail. Sheffield had Alec.

* * *

 _More soon…_


	10. Chapter 10

_Well, ya knew Sheffield had to show back up at some point! Let's see what kind of damage we can do…_

Chapter Ten

* * *

Max didn't wait for Porter to call in reinforcements. She ripped open the door and shot out of the room. She didn't wait on the elevator either, but blurred up the staircase and down the hall toward Alec's room.

Max was quickly forced to skid to a halt, however. A mass of medical people, visitors and patients had formed a crowd blocking the hall. She pushed her way through and saw McIntyre was lying unconscious on the floor outside Alec's room. A man and woman in scrubs were leaning over him, one putting pressure on a chest wound while the other checked him over.

Agent Fordice stood at the glass wall looking into Alec's room, gun in hand. In his other hand was a phone, and he was probably briefing Porter, still on his way up. The glass was meant so the medical staff could see their ICU patients at all times, but it was now giving them a great view of the disaster unfolding.

"Clear the hall!" Max ordered. "Get downstairs or get back in your rooms!" The morons in the hall who'd been staring like cows, finally started moving, quickly turning to panic now that someone had informed them they were in danger.

She walked to the two working on McIntyre. "He safe to move?" she asked.

The man looked up. "Yes, we-"

Max didn't wait. She grabbed McIntyre by his shoulders and dragged him down the hall in the wake of the retreating crowd. She set him down by the elevator. The doctor or nurse, whoever he was, followed her and gave her the stink eye, but he and the other medical type dropped back down by their patient.

"Get him out of here," she ordered, and turned back down the hall.

Mrs. Anderson had been standing with the crowd, but she had refused to leave with everyone else. The Agent who'd accompanied her along with Fordice was urging her toward the stairs. Her son was beside her, trying to do the same, pulling on her arm. Slight as she was, however, she refused to budge. Her son was being gentle. Max, on the other hand, had no real problem manhandling the old lady. She unceremoniously pushed her into the closest room, which looked like an employee break room, and shoved her son in with her.

"Get in there and don't let them out!" she said as she pushed the agent in after them and slammed the door behind him. Alec had nearly died to save Mrs. Anderson. The last thing they needed was for Sheffield to punch her ticket if he caught her wandering the hall.

Porter finally appeared through the stairwell door. He'd been fighting his way up against the stream of people headed down and appeared frazzled. He looked at McIntyre, who was being dragged into the elevator, and to Porter's credit, looked past him to evaluate the situation.

"Mrs. Anderson's in there with your guy," she pointed at the closed door, "and Sheffield's in with Alec."

Max hurried back to Alec's room before Porter could try to stop her. She felt rather than saw Porter come up behind her as she peeked in. Dr. Shankar was on the floor unconscious and a terrified nurse was backed in a corner as far away as possible from Sheffield who was standing beside Alec's bed.

Max took a moment to assess the room. Alec's ventilator had been removed, but he was still in restraints. They must have wanted to leave them on while they removed the vent for fear he would react badly. He was breathing on his own at least, although it was labored, not as bad as before, but still not good. His eyes were open, and he was watching Sheffield. The added stress certainly wasn't helping him.

Sheffield had a gun that he had set on Alec's chest, aimed toward his head. It was a direct taunt, sitting there in plain sight, aimed at his chin, with absolutely nothing Alec could do about it. For the moment, however, Sheffield was ignoring it. Instead, his arms were crossed, and he had a knife in one hand, tapping the point of the five inch blade against his chin as if in thought.

Max gestured to the nurse cowering in the corner. The woman glanced at Dr. Shankar on the floor, then Sheffield, then bolted through the door past Max. She heard the stairwell door slam open and guessed the nurse was going to keep running until she was out of the building.

Sheffield noticed the movement. He turned toward the door and saw Max. "You," he said flatly.

"Name's Max."

There was no reaction in his flat expression, or his dead eyes. "I saw you outside the bar." He uncrossed his arms and pointed the tip of the knife toward her. "You were talking to Alec and then you hid."

Max cursed inwardly. She'd been seen. She was probably part of why they'd become suspicious of Alec. Once again, she wanted to kick Logan and Alec for leaving her out of the operation. She never would have barged in and demanded answers while Alec was on the job.

"Put the knife down. The feds are here. You're not going anywhere. You don't want to make it worse."

"It's already worse. Anderson's dead."

Max assumed he'd gotten word from Anderson's men. There was no point in denying it. "Yeah."

Fast as lightning, he struck. The knife must've been razor sharp. Two of Alec's fingers came off his right hand with ease, and Alec let out a startled cry, struggling against the restraints.

Max began to move forward, but Sheffield was ready. He used his other hand to pick up the gun and press the muzzle to Alec's chest, not in the middle where a shot would skid off the breastbone, but to one side where it would hit his heart.

Sheffield was terrifyingly fast for a normal human, almost as fast as she was. Max knew she couldn't get to him before he fired and blew a hole in Alec's chest that couldn't be repaired in time to save him. Max really hated guns.

Porter hissed at her from the hallway to back out of the room, but Max didn't take her eyes off Sheffield.

"I'm not leaving," she said, both to Porter and Sheffield.

Sheffield simply raised an eyebrow. "Some people don't learn their lesson," he said.

With the hand still holding the knife, he picked up Alec's severed fingers and tossed them, one at a time, hitting a garbage can across the room. "They touch things they shouldn't."

His knife moved to Alec's face and the tip flashed, slicing his cheek open to his mouth, making Alec cry out in shock. "They talk about things they shouldn't."

The knife flashed and Alec cried out again as Sheffield laid open the side of his face, partially severing his ear. "They hear things they shouldn't."

The knife began to travel to Alec's eyes and Max knew where this was headed. "Yeah, yeah. We get it. You touch his eyes and I'll rip yours out through your armpit."

Sheffield paused and turned toward her, actually giving her a proper look this time. "Interesting visual… but I'm the one with the gun here."

He took the gun away from Alec's chest, and aimed it at her, which was exactly what she'd been waiting for.

Porter had obviously been waiting for the same thing. As soon as the gun turned toward Max, Porter fired. Sheffield took two shots to the chest a mere breath before Max tackled him. Sheffield still had time to get off a shot and Max felt it burn across her side, but she ignored it.

Despite being wounded, Sheffield fought like a caged lion. On his way down, he grabbed at the closest thing, the machine that had been attached to Alec's bed and connected to the chest tube. He pulled it all down with him, jerking out the stitching and the tube itself as he pulled it with him.

Alec let out a horrible sound, and then nothing else. Max noticed it all, but she focused on securing Sheffield. It took every bit of her strength to hold him down. Porter and then Fordice appeared at her side, adding their weight to her own. Max took the opportunity that afforded to grab the machine that had maintained the suction on Alec's chest tube. She brought it down viciously on Sheffield's head. He only appeared dazed, so she did it again, and this time, his entire body went lax. She quickly flipped him, and grabbed the attached tubing and used it to tie his hands. It was disgusting and slippery from the fluids, but it was all she had for the moment.

"I'll get something to secure him properly," Porter said and ran from the room.

"Get someone in here for Alec!" she yelled at Fordice, who nodded and ran after his boss. She took a moment to look up and saw that Alec was fighting a losing battle with the restraints. There was blood and fluid bubbling from the torn chest tube removal, and from the sound it was obviously letting air back into the chest cavity as well. Alec was struggling for air again as all their hard work was reversed in an instant.

Dr. Shankar groaned next to them where she'd fallen. She turned onto her side, holding her head.

"Dr. Shankar!" Max shouted. She stood and grabbed a latex glove from a nearby box and slapped it against the open wound in Alec's chest to try to seal the leak. She pressed it tight to the hole and kept steady pressure on it, all the while watching Sheffield for movement.

"Dr. Shankar, I need you!" she shouted again.

Dr. Shankar seemed to realize she was being called. She turned toward Max and her eyes focused sharply. She struggled to her feet and stepped around Sheffield on the floor to get to Alec. She took in the fresh disaster at a glance.

"Is there anyone left on this floor?" she asked.

"No. We cleared everyone out. There might be a few left hiding in other patients' rooms."

Shankar paused for barely a second and looked at Alec. "No time. Take the brake off the bed on that side," she ordered.

Max fumbled a bit, but finally figured it out. "Got it."

"Go punch the button for the elevator up. I'll be right behind you. Not the visitor elevator!" she said as it occurred to her. "The one at the other end of the hall!"

Max did as she was ordered. She blurred down the hall in the opposite direction from where she'd entered and smacked the button. She then raced back to the room. Dr. Shankar was struggling to keep pressure on the wound while she moved the heavy bed.

"You help Alec," Max ordered. "I'll push!"

Dr. Shankar ran to the folding glass wall of the ICU room and hit the release to push it out of the way. She hurried back, and actually hopped onto the bed straddling Alec while she worked, and Max pushed the heavy bed out of the room and down to the elevator.

The doors opened, and Max pushed the bed inside the oversized elevator. "Which floor?" she asked desperately. Alec was back to wheezing and turning blue. He wasn't panicking though. It was worse. He was calmly lying there, barely breathing, and he just looked… resigned. It was like he knew this was it.

"Four," Dr. Shankar said, and Max realized they were headed back to the OR.

Max pushed the button and then used the back of the gurney so she could stand higher and lean over Alec. She was looking at him upside down, his face a ruin of blood and gore, but it didn't matter. He locked his eyes on her, but it wasn't for help. It was like he knew there was nothing she could do.

"Don't you dare give up!" she said. "You stay with me. Dr. Shankar is here and she's working to fix this. You just have to hold on, ok?"

Alec, jerk that he was, just sort of… smirked, then his expression changed, flattening out. "S… orry," he wheezed out, working horribly to breathe as blood bubbled up at his lips.

Max bent down and placed a kiss on his forehead. She didn't know why. She just felt the need. He was hurting, and dying and he was giving up, and she needed him to know she cared. "Hold on," she whispered. "Just hold on."

The elevator door bonged, and Max hopped back down. "Which way?"

"Left. All the way to the end. Just push through the doors into the OR!"

Max did as she was told. As soon as they were through the doors, Dr. Shankar started shouting and all sorts of medical types appeared from various rooms. Dr. Shankar hopped down from the bed and before Max could do anything else, Alec was whisked out of sight and Max was left standing alone yet again, wondering if Alec was going to survive.

Honestly, she wanted to sit down where she was and bawl. That wasn't her style though, and it wasn't useful either.

Max turned around and jogged back toward the elevator. She needed to get back to the ICU. Porter might need help with Sheffield. She didn't know how long he'd stay out, that was if he wasn't dead from the gunshot wounds. She could always hope. She'd need to get the wound in her side cleaned up. She also needed to get Alec's fingers. He was going to need them if he managed to live.

* * *

 _More soon…._


	11. Chapter 11

_All right, let's get these two on the road to recovery._

Chapter Eleven

* * *

Max sat back in the chair tilted back on two legs, her ankles crossed and propped on her bed. Alec was lying flat on his back, still asleep. She'd never seen a Transgenic sleep as much as she had in the last few days. She hadn't known it was possible.

There had been a bit of debate when it came time to make Alec disappear from the hospital. Dr. Shankar had offered to take him to her home, but Max hadn't wanted to bring any more trouble to her door, since she'd already endangered the woman's job. After that, Max had considered taking him to his own apartment, but he couldn't be left alone, and she hadn't felt like running back and forth to her own place all the time while he was down. Logan's was out because… well, just because. Joshua's house would have been a possibility, but Joshua couldn't exactly make a run for supplies if they needed something in a hurry and it wasn't the most comfortable for someone trying to convalesce.

That had left Max's place, where O.C. could be her backup. It had been proof of just how bad Alec was feeling that he didn't gripe or make a single creepy comment. Max had helped him inside, he'd dropped onto her bed and he'd instantly fallen asleep.

So far it had worked out. Max had covered Alec up, and pretty much watched him like a hawk. She watched him lie there and wheeze and had refused to sleep for fear he would stop. O.C. had given her a couple of breaks, but other than that, she'd stayed put. Alec had woken a few times and Max had helped him to the bathroom, or given him a little bit of food or something to drink, but then he'd fallen back asleep. Dr. Shankar said it was to be expected. Alec's body had been stressed beyond anything a human could have tolerated, and almost beyond anything a Transgenic could either.

The only bit of satisfaction she had was the news that Sheffield had done them all a service and finally kicked off the day before from the bullet wounds. The guy had been a sociopath who liked slicing up his victims and who'd taken it as a personal affront that Anderson was dead. He'd cut Alec to ribbons, and Max didn't have an ounce of pity for the guy.

Max heard a knock at the door, but didn't move. She knew O.C. would grab it. Sure enough, only a few seconds later, she heard Cindy open the door. Silence followed, and Max tensed when Cindy didn't say anything.

"Can I…" Their guest paused nervously and cleared his throat. "Can I see him?"

Max rolled her eyes. Normal. Of all things. She'd called in to work and told her boss that Alec was back after his imaginary surgery to fix the damage done to him in the ring, but he needed someone to look out for him. Normal had made a few threats, but eventually told her to take care of their Golden Boy.

Normal appeared in the doorway to her bedroom, and wasn't that a sight she'd never, _ever_ , thought to see. Cindy was beside him looking like she was torn between wanting to laugh and disgust that Normal was in their apartment.

"I'm gonna head out," O.C. said. "Not that watching you watch your boy ain't fun and all, but I'm gonna find some company a little more… lively."

Max just smiled. "Sure. No reason for you to stay cooped up too." Not that Max minded staying home, really. She'd had enough excitement to last her a week or two.

"I'll stop at the store 'fore I come back. Anything you wanna add to the list, Suga'?"

"No. Thanks, Cin." O.C. had been an unbelievable help and Max owed her more than just a night of freedom from the apartment. She'd run errands, made calls, and done everything she could while Max refused to leave Alec's side.

Cindy made a hasty exit and Normal stepped in, staring at Alec who was lying on his back, propped up a bit on pillows. His lungs were better, but he was still breathing shallowly, working to draw breath. The healing was going slower because of the extent of the damage, not to mention the repeat performance, but thankfully, the partially healed knife wounds to his face were on the opposite side from Normal's point of view, and wouldn't be too obvious. The damage from the beating was fading, but still there, and Max hoped Normal would think it was swelling and bruising due to the supposed medical procedures. She didn't know how to explain it otherwise.

"How is he?" Normal asked a little too loudly. Max sent him a nasty look and he actually looked sorry. He was carrying a basket the size of a small car. He set it down on the floor and Max saw that it held all sorts of goodies. There were vitamins, sports drinks, cookies, candy, real fruit, some packaged jerky, fresh eggs, and a bottle of Scotch. It was everything a growing boy could ask for.

"Better," Max said quietly. "Sleeping a lot."

"What happened to him? His face is swollen and-" He waved his hand to basically all of Alec. Normal wasn't really as dumb as all that and the abdominal breathing was a dead giveaway. He could tell this was bad.

"He went in for the surgery and he died on the table." That much at least was the truth. "There were complications and his lungs collapsed. That's why his breathing is weird." She shook her head. "He was getting better and I thought he was gonna get to come home, and then something else went wrong with his lungs and they had to do more surgery."

Normal blanched. "What kind of quack doctor did he go to?"

Max shook her head. "She was a specialist." At least as much as they could find for a Transgenic outside Manticore. "If he'd gone anywhere else he'd probably be dead. It… it was close." She reached out and took Alec's hand, his uninjured one. It didn't make any difference to him, but Max had caught herself reaching out again and again for comfort. She needed the reassurance he was still alive.

Unfortunately, the action drew Normal's attention to Alec's still-bandaged fingers. Normal pointed and frowned. "What happened to his hand?"

"Tendon damage," Max answered, using the first thing that came to mind. "While they were working on the rest," and she definitely chose to leave that vague, "they had to repair his hand, too."

Alec's fingers had been reattached and they were part of the main reason Alec had needed to be removed from the hospital. Normally, there would have been all sorts of worry over whether the fingers could be saved and how well the surgery had worked. Alec's fingers had speedily decided to accept the return trip home and along with his healing face, the nurses had started to make noises about how well he was looking and how quickly.

"Fighter's hands," Normal said gravely. "It's a dangerous craft."

Max didn't roll her eyes, but it was close. What was dangerous was running a sting on a mobster and not telling her what he was up to.

Normal nodded. He bent down and set a hand against Alec's blanket covered leg. He patted it fondly. "Keep fighting, buddy. You're my rock star. You can do it."

There was no reaction, just the continued shallow, slightly labored breathing.

Normal straightened and cleared his throat. "I'll expect you both back at work as soon as possible."

"Yeah. Gotta pay for this palace." She waved to her apartment. "But don't worry. We'll be there."

Normal nodded, cast a last worried glance at Alec, and then headed out, without so much as a, "Bip, bip."

Max waited until the front door closed and then let out the breath she'd been holding.

Alec's hand tightened on hers. "He gone?" Alec asked, barely more than a mumble.

"Yeah." She waited for him to pull away from her, but his grip only tightened. He cracked one eye open and looked at her.

"Please, tell me he didn't kiss me."

"It was just a little peck," she answered dryly. "He wanted you to know you're loved."

Alec groaned and turned on his side. His breath hitched as the pain from his damaged ribs hit, and he finally released her hand, pressing it to his chest. "You're hilarious, Max. I bet you took a comedy class back at Manticore."

"Yeah. Got an A, too. Lydecker called me Laugh-a-Minute Max." She didn't feel particularly funny though. When Alec turned, it turned the damaged side of his face toward her. The healing pink slashes were better, but she could still see the damage Sheffield had done. The hospital had actually called in a plastic surgeon to put Alec back together, and like all of the other physical evidence, it would fade in a few more days. For the moment, however, it was still a stark reminder of how close death had come.

"How long I been out?" he asked.

"Four or five hours this time." Each time was shorter. Pretty soon, he wasn't going to need her to stand guard any more.

Alec just grunted. "All this sleep, you'd think I wouldn't be so tired."

Max shrugged. "That's what happens when you put your body through a meat grinder."

"Yeah." Alec sighed and closed his eyes again.

"Don't go back to sleep yet. You need to eat something."

"Ok," he answered, but didn't open his eyes again.

Max got up and hurried to the kitchen. She had some leftover soup from her last attempt to feed him. She'd been keeping it warm on the burner for when he woke up. She dumped some in a mug, and hurried back to the bed. She'd quickly learned not to give him the option of going back to sleep, or he'd drop back off almost immediately.

"Can you sit up?" she asked.

Alec's eyelids fluttered, and she knew she'd barely made it in time. She watched as he braced himself and then turned carefully, shifting to sit. Max repositioned the pillows behind him so he didn't actually sit up all the way, just leaned a bit. It would hurt him too badly to sit up straight.

Alec accepted the mug with both hands and brought it to his lips. It was awkward because of the bandaging on his injured hand, but he managed. "Thanks," he said, and began to sip carefully.

Max just nodded and sat back down. She guessed he would make it through half the mug before he got tired or nauseated and quit.

Alec looked at her and for the first time, she could tell he was actually seeing her. He'd been pretty out of it since the hospital. "Max, why are you doing this?"

"Because you're an idiot and _someone_ has to look out for you?"

"Yeah, but…" He took another sip. "Nevermind."

Max sighed. "Because you're my friend, Alec. You needed help and that's what I'm doing." Max was done with hiding. This whole mess was partially her fault. She'd used Alec to hide from Logan and the results had been disastrous.

Alec just looked at her, an odd expression on his face, like he wasn't sure what to make of that answer. "Since when am I your friend?"

Max shrugged. "You don't want me to be a friend?"

"No!" he said, straightening automatically. He hissed in pain and almost dropped the mug. Only Max's quick reflexes kept him from dropping it on the bed and himself. "Sorry," he bit out, wrapping an arm around his chest.

Max set the mug aside and helped him ease back onto the bed. "Idiot," she said, but with no real heat behind it.

"I know, I know," he said through gritted teeth.

She studied him, not wanting to overtax him when she knew he was struggling. Still, she wanted to know the answer to her question. "Now… did that 'no' mean you don't want me to be your friend, or you do?" she asked.

Alec waited several seconds, his breathing stuttering as he tried to make it through the wave of pain. Finally, he opened his eyes again. "I guess… I could use a good friend," he answered.

Max nodded. "Yeah. Guess we all could." She pulled the blanket back up to cover him. "Go back to sleep," she said. "I'll be here when you wake up. Then when you're better, we can have a real talk."

* * *

 _The wrap up soon… Might be tomorrow or maybe the day after. The last chapter turned into a bit of a monster, so it might take a bit longer to spruce up._


	12. Chapter 12

_Well, here it is, ladies and gents. Thank you for each and every kind word. For the person who keeps anonymously sending the not so kind words… One, go find a story you do like. Two, eat a cookie. It will help. Helps me anyway. To the very kind (and funny) lady who was attacked by a spider while reviewing, I hope you've sent it to its well deserved doom!_

Chapter Twelve

* * *

Max heard Alec shift on the bed. She looked up from the eggs she was cooking to check on him, but didn't go. Alec was better, and he was starting to get annoyed with her hovering, not that he'd said anything. He turned slowly and sat up on the side of the bed. He ran his hand through his hair, brushing his now mostly healed fingers over the bare patch where they'd shaved his hair around his ear to stitch him up.

Alec held his breath and then pushed himself to his feet. Max had to force herself not to go to him, despite how badly he was weaving. After a few seconds, he steadied and slowly straightened, one hand wrapped protectively around his ribcage, the other held out in case he wobbled and fell.

"You want some eggs?" Max called.

"Uh… yeah," he answered after a second. "You mind… if I take a shower first?"

"You sure you're up to it?"

"No. But I stink. I'm gonna try."

His smile was self-conscious, but Max was happy to see it reappear nevertheless. It felt like forever. She'd been dealing with the fake anger and standoffish behavior before the beating, and since then, all she'd seen was exhaustion and pain.

"Hang on. I've got a plastic stool. I can put it in the tub."

"Well, that's not humiliating at all."

Max raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather fall and mess yourself up again?"

"No." His expression turned bashful, heading toward real embarrassment. "Feel bad enough I've been hogging your bed for… however long I've been here."

She shrugged and grabbed the plastic stool O.C. kept to climb on to reach the upper cabinets. She took it into the bathroom and set it in the tub. It wobbled a bit, but it would do. She then went back into the bedroom and grabbed some clothes that she'd raided from his apartment after they'd come home from the hospital. She set them on the toilet and then walked back out.

"There you go. Let me know if you need anything else."

Alec gave her an odd look, as if he still couldn't figure her out. "Thanks."

"Or, you know… yell or whatever if you're gonna pass out."

He nodded and disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. For a moment, she worried he wouldn't be able to get into the claw foot tub, but decided to let him handle it himself. He could do with a morale boost.

Max went back to the eggs and pulled them off the burner. She put a plate on top of the pan to keep them warm and then sat to wait for him to finish his shower. It gave her a minute to collect herself. Now that he was awake and they were overdue for a real talk, she was getting more and more nervous. She had never been good with words and… feelings and… pretty much anything other than hitting stuff. She'd told him they needed to talk though, and she was going to do it.

Finally, when Max was ready to jump out of her skin, Alec opened the door to the bathroom. He was pink from the heat of the water, but that was a false sense of health. Max was off the sofa and at his side in the blink of an eye.

Alec draped his arm over her shoulder without protest and allowed her to help him to the couch. "Sorry," he said breathlessly. "Who knew a shower could knock out Manticore's best?"

"I did just fine this morning, thanks. You on the other hand had your ass handed to you."

Alec let out the barest hint of a laugh. "Walked right into that one."

Max eased him down and then sat carefully beside him, although turned so that she was facing him. Alec took several moments to settle and to let his breathing slow after all the exertion.

"So… you wanted to talk," he finally said. "I still don't get why you're doing all this. I keep expecting you to yell at me and kick me out."

"I still might, but… I need to ask something first."

Max had been thinking about it. She hadn't had much else to do while she sat there and watched Alec sleep. She'd spent a lot of time being mad at Logan for keeping the operation from her and she'd spent a lot of time being mad at Alec, too. She understood why Logan had done it. Alec though…

"Why didn't you tell me what you were doing?"

Alec shrugged and winced. "Logan didn't think it would work unless I cut ties with everybody and made it look real. Anderson was paranoid about new people."

"And Logan is the expert on undercover operations, not the trained, you know, _operative_."

"I agreed with him… mostly."

"Uh huh. But that's Logan. Why didn't _you_ tell me? I thought we were … closer than that." After the night she'd told him about Ben, things had been different between them.

Alec gave her a sidelong glance, and let his head fall back on the sofa. Finally, he sighed and said, "Anderson was looking for you. I had to take him down before he found you."

"What?" Max blinked in surprise. "He was looking for me? Why?"

"Your DNA. Some Manticore files are floating around saying you don't have any junk DNA. Apparently you're the Holy Grail in science circles. There was a picture of you as a kid attached to the info, but not a current one thankfully. Still, there were other things about you and they were closing in. All the stuff in the news about Manticore means they guessed you're here in town somewhere and you're worth a fortune. Logan's been getting rid of the files anytime he finds them, and of course, hiding your trail, but Anderson was already on the hunt."

"What was he gonna do if he found me?"

"Sell you. Along with all kinds of illegal activities, he was a middle man who'd find expensive things for people. The group that asked him to find you was offering big money, but when he put out the word, other buyers lined up. You're not as invisible as you'd like to think, Max. Along with the Manticore stuff, you left your DNA at a couple of your heist jobs, and a few witnesses gave a description. He had it narrowed down to a neighborhood or two to look for you. I couldn't let you go anywhere near him. I thought about telling you anyway, but you'd have gone in all guns blazing."

"I don't do guns."

"You know what I mean, Max. You don't do subtle."

"So you acted all crazy and went it alone."

He nodded and gave her a chagrined smirk. "I was trying to keep you away from him, and then you just showed up at the bar. I nearly had a heart attack when you walked into the basement."

"What was I supposed to do? You set off your distress signal."

Alec frowned. "Logan was supposed to call the Sector Cops and get them to help."

"Well, that was a lousy plan. The Sector Police are the ones who handed you over in the first place. They'd have walked into the basement, looked at you, and then picked up a pair of pliers to help pull out your teeth."

"Maybe." Alec grimaced at that thought. "Not all of them are on his payroll. Either way, it still would have kept you out of his sights."

"You did all of this to protect me?" Her voice was quiet, almost timid, and she hated it, but it came out nonetheless.

Alec looked away from her. "You're a bad influence, Max. I should've cut and run months ago, but…"

"But you couldn't. You keep helping me and the rest of us Manticore freaks."

"Yeah, I guess." He cleared his throat nervously. "Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"Everything. The basement, the apartment, the hospital, here." He waved toward the bed where she'd been looking after him. "You saved me, Max. I don't know why you keep saving me, but you do, so… thanks."

"Same reason you keep trying to save me, I guess. Cause I care what happens to you." It wasn't the same as saying _I care about you_ , but… baby steps.

Alec still looked stunned at her admission. _Be patient_ , Mrs. Anderson had said. Alec barely understood friendship, let alone anything more. _Don't give up on him_.

He wouldn't look her in the eye, but nodded. She wanted to reach out and take his hand, but it was different now that he was awake. Max remembered the look on his face in the elevator when he'd thought he was going to die. She'd kissed his forehead and told him to hold on. She wondered if he even remembered.

"In any case… you're welcome," she said. "Next time though, let's not fight the bad guys while your lungs are collapsing, ok?"

"Done."

They both jumped when there was a knock on the door. "Expecting someone?" Alec asked.

"Nope." She raised an eyebrow. "Maybe Normal wants to check on you again."

Alec groaned. "Not funny, Max."

Max got up and went to the door. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw who was waiting there. "Mrs. Anderson!"

"Hello, Max. May we come in?" Mrs. Anderson was in another flowered dress and cozy cardigan like she had been before, but she looked less careworn than when Max had seen her last. She was still tired, but she just seemed to stand a little taller. Maybe being out from under her psycho son's thumb was freeing, even if she did have to off him herself to win that freedom.

Max stepped back and let Mrs. Anderson come in, followed by a young, dark haired man in a suit who she could tell was a fed.

"This is Eddie. He's here to look after me," Mrs. Anderson explained.

Max nodded in Eddie's direction, but he was barely paying any attention to her. "Five minutes, ma'am. I'm already breaking protocol."

"I know, I know." Mrs. Anderson waved at him impatiently. "Will you wait out in the hall, please? I'd like to have a word in private."

Eddie didn't like it, but he nodded and went back out in the hall, closing the door behind him.

"There," Mrs. Anderson said. "Now, may I see…" She trailed off when she saw Alec. He was struggling to stand up from the sofa, and Max rolled her eyes. She rushed around to help him and Mrs. Anderson did the same, although she was slower.

"Don't be an idiot," Max scolded him. "Sit back down."

Alec stubbornly remained on his feet. He turned toward Mrs. Anderson who had tears in her eyes as she looked at him, no doubt cataloguing all the healing injuries.

"Oh, honey," she said, and carefully folded Alec's larger frame in her arms. For his part, Alec did the same, hugging the frail, old woman just as carefully.

"Hi, Minnie."

Mrs. Anderson laughed, a wet sob of a laugh against Alec's chest. She straightened, already shaking her head. "Don't you 'hi, Minnie' me, you crazy boy." She wagged her finger at him. "You nearly got yourself killed and I'm here to give you a piece of my mind."

Alec smiled at her antics, a smile Max had rarely seen on his face. It wasn't a knowing smirk, or a sarcastic grin, or any of his repertoire of world weary smiles. It was an honest, amused grin.

"Save your breath, Minnie. Max is already on it, and it sounds like you've only got a couple of minutes."

Mrs. Anderson pulled back so she could look up at him. "Has she already yelled at you?"

"She's almost hoarse," he assured her. "She'll be telling me I'm an idiot until the day I die."

"Good," she said. "And that day better be a long, long time from now. You understand me?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said, with all of the genuine respect he'd never given to a Manticore commanding officer. "Where are they taking you?" he asked more gently.

"Witness protection," she answered. "It's not safe for me or my son. The organization will find another thug to lead them, and they won't like how much I know and how much information I'm giving the authorities. I… I won't be able to see you again."

Alec looked genuinely sorry about that. He really liked her, much as it still confused Max to see it. "I'll miss being able to talk to you," he said, in all seriousness.

"Me, too." She sniffed and pulled a hanky from where she'd tucked it in her sleeve. "But you've got Max. Promise me you'll talk to her. You two need each other and since I don't have time to dilly dally, I'm just going to say it outright."

"Minnie," Alec said with a hint of warning.

"No, Alec. You two need each other. I don't know her the way I know you, but I know what you've told me, and that's good enough. Don't waste time you can't get back. You hear me?"

Alec nodded. "Of course."

"And since Max doesn't have a gentleman friend anymore, she'll definitely need someone to talk to. You've listened to me plenty. Now you can listen to her when she needs it."

"What?"

Max wasn't sure which part of that had him hung up until he twisted, wincing and pressing a hand to his ribs.

"What happened with Logan?"

Max just shrugged. "We're done. Should have come to my senses before, but better late than never, I guess."

"Max, none of this was his fault. I-"

Max held up a hand to stop him. "We can talk about that later." She pointed toward Mrs. Anderson. "She can't stay long."

Alec nodded and turned back. "Sorry, Minnie."

"Oh, don't mind me," she laughed. "It will give me something good to think about after I leave. I'll think about you two and whatever adventure you might get up to next." She patted his chest affectionately. "I will miss you, my boy. You have a good heart. It's seen too much, but even so you've found your way, thank the Good Lord. I wish my own son…"

"Minnie," Alec said, uncomfortable with so much honesty.

"No. No time, remember." She gave him a watery smile. "My son was an evil man. I raised him to be better than that, but I failed him somewhere along the way. You, though, you were raised with evil all around, but you still found the light, and I think your friend, Max, has helped with that."

"She has." He glanced in her direction. "I owe her a lot," he added, and Max acknowledged it with a tiny smile.

"I wish my son had been more like you," Mrs. Anderson said matter-of-factly. "Thank you for saving me."

Alec hugged her again, and Max suspected it was because he was too broken up to say anything. She knew she was.

Mrs. Anderson pulled back, and visibly forced herself to step away from Alec. He watched her as she walked to the door, heartbreak on his face.

Mrs. Anderson had her hand on the doorknob when Alec stopped her. "Minnie?"

"Yes, honey?"

"You know… Max and I… you know what we were trained to do." Mrs. Anderson just raised her eyebrows in question. "Maybe one day, when it's safer, we'll stop by to see how you're doing."

"Think you can track me down?" she asked, hope dawning. "Agent Porter says once I do this, no one will be able to find me."

Alec just smiled. "I'll see you around, Minnie."

Mrs. Anderson laughed. "I'll count on it then." She opened the door and closed it behind her, leaving only the sound of retreating steps as she and Eddie left.

"Sit," Max ordered, and Alec practically fell onto the sofa with an _oof_. "Idiot," she added, affectionately. "Not like she doesn't know you're hurt. You didn't have to be all macho and stand there the whole time."

"Yes, I did," he grumbled.

Max remembered him trying so hard in the car to convince Mrs. Anderson his injuries weren't her fault, so in his mind, maybe he did.

Max walked to the kitchen and served up the eggs on a pair of plates and brought it to over. Alec took his and his eyes narrowed. "These are from Normal, aren't they?"

Max had to laugh at his expression. "Yeah. Gotta get his golden boy back in fighting shape."

They ate in silence, but it only took a couple of minutes to finish the eggs. Max took the plate from him, and walked it back to the sink. She returned with a glass of milk, and handed it over.

"You should drink it all. You need the tryptophan. Your body's massively overloaded trying to fix you."

He complied without comment, just as he had done everything since she'd brought him to her apartment. It was… odd. She was used to him giving her guff about everything.

"Was any of it true?" she asked. The question had been burning in her mind for days.

"Any of what?" he asked.

"That stuff about wanting to use your skills. You know… missing Manticore and all that."

"Oh. Sort of," he admitted. "I get the itch sometimes when I haven't done anything for days except ride around and deliver packages." He smirked. "Thankfully, we usually have some sort of disaster pop up and we get to rush to the rescue. It helps."

"Makes sense, I guess." Max tried to keep her voice even, but she could feel the tears beginning to gather. Maybe it was everything catching up to her, but her chest was beginning to ache with the remembered fear and tension, and now with relief spreading through her like fire. She didn't have time to let it all catch up to her now any more than when she'd been so terrified that he was following in Ben's footsteps, but her mind and body didn't seem to be quite in agreement.

"Whoa," he said, seeing her reaction. He set the glass of milk aside. "Max?"

"I'd hit you if you weren't so messed up." Max felt a tear trickle down her cheek and brushed it away roughly. "I was sure you were going nuts like Ben."

Alec turned so he was looking at her. It hurt him to do it, but he did it anyway. He reached out to grab her hand, and she wondered if he'd been awake enough to know how often she'd reached for him in the past few days.

"Max, I'm sorry," he said, and it was such an echo of what he'd said that night when she'd told him about Ben, that it made her heart constrict in her chest. Max covered her mouth to stop a sob from escaping. Just like that night, Alec put his arm around her and leaned in to pull her close. "I'm so sorry," he continued. "I had to keep you safe. I couldn't let that guy find you. It doesn't make it ok, but I had to protect you."

"Even if he had found me, I could've fought my way out," she said, wiping at another tear. She didn't pull away from him though.

"I couldn't get away, Max," he confessed softly. "Believe me, I tried, and they still nearly tore me to shreds."

"That's because you're an idiot."

"Maybe," he admitted. "Still couldn't let them get their hands on you."

Max was quiet for several moments as it sank in. Yes, Alec had let himself be tortured to keep them away from Mrs. Anderson, but it had been more than that. He'd been there to protect her. He'd let them beat and stab him nearly to death for _her_.

"Why didn't you just tell them when you were still strong enough to fight your way out?" she whispered. "We could have found Mrs. Anderson again later, or I could have hid out for a while until we took him down some other way."

Alec's expression turned mulish. "Not an option. Manticore at least taught me how to get through an interrogation, especially a pitiful excuse for one like Anderson's goon squad."

"The one time in your life you refuse to talk and it nearly kills you." She huffed in disbelief.

"Hey, I thought you'd be impressed. You're always telling me to shut it. Maybe I finally caught on."

"Didn't seem to stop you from telling _Mrs_. Anderson all about me though, did it?" she accused.

Alec shifted uncomfortably. "Minnie's a good listener."

"So you told her all about Manticore? All about me?"

"It just sort of… happened. She's easy to talk to."

"She told me…"

"What?" Alec asked when she faltered.

Max wanted to chicken out. She could admit that much to herself. She'd started this though. "She said you were always telling her about me. In the back of the car, she called me your girl."

He backed off, horror plain on his face. He obviously hadn't remembered that bit. "Max, I didn't-"

"She also said you thought you weren't good enough for me."

Alec closed his mouth with a clack, and remained suspiciously silent. Apparently, Mrs. Anderson hadn't been exaggerating.

"You know that's crazy right?"

"That I'm not good enough? Or that I'm not good enough for _you_?" he asked pointedly.

"Both," she answered.

"Max, you've called me a screw up since we met. And the things I've done… You don't know what…"

"I know _you_. Yeah, I've been a bitch to you a lot of times, but," her lips turned up at one corner, "it's just kind of how I roll. And yeah, we did things Manticore made us do and people died and people got hurt. There's nothing we can do about that except try to move on."

"Max, I saw your face when I shot the guy in the basement. Same with the two guys at the apartment."

"Alec…" Max paused. While Alec was down, she'd given a lot of thought to what happened. "I'm not saying I would necessarily make the same choices, but… I understand why you did it. They were bad guys. They'd hurt you already, and they were more than happy to kill us. We were in a mess, and you did what you needed to do to save Mrs. Anderson. So, I'm not gonna cut you down for it."

Alec shook his head. "I don't know what to say."

 _Be patient. Don't give up on him._

"Don't have to say anything, I guess. We're good."

Alec cocked his head to the side, and glanced at her. "You want to tell me about Logan? I was serious when I said this wasn't his fault. He was already trying to take down Anderson when he found out the guy was looking for you and brought me in. He was trying to help."

"I know." Max shook her head. "Doesn't change that we're done. All of this just made me realize it was over."

"Max, I-"

"Part of why I realized I was done with Logan," she said, cutting him off, "was because I was worrying so much about you." She had to say it now or she was going to lose her nerve. "I tried to ignore it, but it got worse and worse until all I could think about was making sure you were ok."

"Well, I'm fine now, so-"

She smacked him lightly on the arm. "You try to brush me off while I'm spilling my guts, and it's not going to go well for you."

Alec's lips twitched in amusement. "Gonna beat me up?"

"Something like that."

Max leaned closer to him and kissed him. It was more than a peck, but she didn't linger either. She wanted him to know that she hadn't been worried about him just because he was a guy who used to hang around Jam Pony. It wasn't because he was somebody she knew from Manticore. She'd been worried because it was _him_ , and she cared about him.

"Max," he whispered, shocked.

"Yeah?" She raised an eyebrow, almost a dare.

"At the hospital… I remember… But I thought I dreamed it." His brow furrowed as he thought, trying to remember. "You kissed me." He touched his fingers to his forehead.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "And I might do it again. Depends on you, doesn't it?"

"What?" He still looked like he'd been sucker punched, and wasn't quite sure what was happening.

"I've been worried about you for weeks. I care about you, and I'm going to keep caring about you. Where we go from here depends on y-"

Alec pulled her to him and kissed her like a dying man grasping at his last few seconds of life and breath. It had to be hurting him. There was no way it wasn't, but he didn't seem to care. She felt his arm wrap around her, one hand pressed to her back. The other hand was tangled in her hair, his palm warm against her cheek. She could feel his chest expanding and contracting as he breathed, the muscles in his back as they moved beneath her hands.

Alec twisted trying to draw her closer and suddenly gasped, the pain finally punching through the haze of the kiss. He pulled back, his face an agonized mask, and Max helped him lean against the sofa. When that didn't help, she rose from the sofa and helped him stretch out, lifting his legs. She ran to the bed and grabbed a couple of pillows to prop him up a bit.

Max knelt at his side, taking his hand and waiting while the pain calmed and he was no longer gasping for breath.

"Layin' down, miserable…," he said, his voice rough. "Gonna fall asleep… in a minute. So, right… back where we were."

Max let out a puff of a laugh. "I don't know. Feels kinda different to me."

Alec opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her. He raised her hand with his so he could see it, and then let it fall back, still clasping it tightly. "I still don't get how it happened, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth."

Max gave him a good glare. "You saying I have horse DNA?"

Alec snorted. "Don't give me that. You know that phrase."

"Maybe. I still might call Normal to watch you while I go out for a while."

"You wouldn't."

"He could help you with your bath next time."

His eyes narrowed in warning. "Max…"

"You need to talk to him anyway about getting your job back," she added coyly.

"You think I'm going back to Jam Pony?"

"You're going back to Jam Pony if I have to drag you back myself."

"I might let you," he yawned, "I need a little more excitement in my life."

Max fought down the shiver that statement brought on. Alec wasn't Ben. He was far, far from being like poor Ben. He was an idiot of epic proportions, but he wasn't Ben. "Excitement, huh?"

"Most excitement we have is when Sketch trips over his own feet on the way to his bike."

"That's not true. Sometimes he trips when gets off the bike, too."

Alec's lips quirked up on one side. "True." His eyelids fluttered closed, and then opened again as he fought sleep.

"How about I promise if you stick with me, there'll always be plenty of excitement."

Alec laughed, then grimaced as his ribs jabbed at him. "Now I know I must've died. You kissed me and now you're flirting."

Max felt her cheeks turning red. "I meant there'll always be some disaster for us to fix, you moron."

"Sure, Max." His voice was beginning to slur, but he was still smiling. "Fine. I'll go make nice with Normal and get my job back."

Max stood back up and went to the bed. She pulled the blanket off and walked back, shaking it out. She settled it over him, and smoothed it over his chest, tucking it in a bit.

"You promise?" he asked sleepily. His eyes had once again fluttered closed, but this time they stayed that way.

"Promise what? Excitement? We'll always have somebody to fight, Alec. This world is crap."

"Promise to… stick with me," he said, trailing off.

Max was silent as she realized what she'd said. _Stick with me, there'll always be excitement_. Mrs. Anderson had been right. The two of them… they barely understood friendship, let alone more. But together… maybe they could learn. She'd been in a holding pattern with Logan, stuck going in circles. She didn't want to be stuck anymore. She didn't want the thought of loving someone to hurt anymore, or for the idea of love to be attached to a hollow, hopeless feeling in her chest.

Max raised his legs up and sat on the sofa, letting him rest with his feet in her lap. It was really the only part of him that it wouldn't hurt him to move. The movement woke him slightly, but his eyes fluttered closed again, accompanied by a sigh of contentment.

It was weird, thinking of Alec as someone she could stick with. When she'd met him, he was the very last person she'd thought she could ever count on, or someone who would become such an integral part of her life. She'd thought he would bail at the first opportunity, and now he was a guy who nearly died to protect her and to save an old lady.

Max tucked the blanket over Alec's legs and feet, then rested her hand on top, the warmth from his skin quickly seeping through the blanket and into her fingers. Alec was always like that, everything about him quietly, or sometimes not so quietly, getting under her skin.

She'd come close to losing him, too close. Alec had made mistakes and so had she, combining to create the nearly fatal situation.

She wasn't going to let that happen again. Max's fingers tightened around his ankle.

"You trying to bruise the only working part I have left?" Alec murmured.

"Sorry, just…"

"Not going anywhere, Maxie," he said, his voice heavy with sleep.

Max nodded. She shifted from beneath his legs, scooting so that she could stretch out beside him. Alec shifted so she could fit, and Max settled with his arm around her, her head resting on his shoulder. She momentarily held her hand over his chest, not sure where to place it that wouldn't hurt him.

"Not made of glass either," he said. He patted his chest and Max lightly set her hand there over his heart. She felt the steady thump beneath her hand and smiled. That steady beat… she could get used to that. She could get used to being able to touch someone she cared about.

"S'crazy. Still think I might be dead, but," his arm tightened around her, "I could get used to this," he said, as if reading her thoughts.

"Yeah," Max said, "me too." She closed her eyes, and for the first time in weeks, she fell asleep, certain that tomorrow was going to be better than today.

* * *

 _And there you have it. Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for reading!_


End file.
